[SGVLUG] Shuttle and Space station visible next few nights

[Claude Felizardo]

>From the Monrovia Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers mailing list...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:     Seeing the shuttle and space station
Date:     Thu, 06 Jul 2006 08:41:53 -0700

We're often asked if you can see the space shuttle from here, wherever
"here" happens to be.

The answer is "Yes, you can," but you have to be looking at the right
time, in the right location.

The shuttle and space station are among the brightest objects in the
sky when they're passing over.  When they do pass over, they're only
visible for three or four minutes at a time.  They look like a very
bright moving star, and could be mistaken for an airplane, except they
have no blinking red beacons.  Once you get familiar with observing
satellites, it becomes obvious that they're not following a path
anything like an airplane would.

So the key is knowing when.  Timing is critical.  In order to see the
shuttle or space station flying overhead, three things need to happen:
It needs to be passing over your area, it needs to be dark where you
are, and the satellite needs to be lit by the sun.  That means it has
to pass within a couple hours of sunset or sunrise, where it will
still be high enough to be in sunlight while it's dark down on the
ground.

A very popular web site will make those calculations for you and give
you predictions of when you might see the shuttle, International Space
Station, and hundreds of other objects that orbit the Earth:
<http://www.heavens-above.com/>

You have to tell it where you live (latitude and longitude, or city
from a database).  Then it will tell you when you can see the ISS or
shuttle for the next ten days.

The best passes are ones that have a maximum altitude higher than 35
degrees.  We have a couple of passes coming up that are close to that.

Thursday evening, 8:52 to 8:56 p.m.  Look for it at its highest in the
northeast.  If you face north, you'll see it passing from your left to
your right, at a maximum of 39 degrees high, very close to the North
Star and right through the summer triangle.

Friday evening, 9:15 'til 9:18 p.m.  Face to the west, then south;
you'll see it pass from right to left.  It'll pass very close to
bright Jupiter slightly west of south, and should be almost as bright
as Jupiter.

Old Town Astronomers http://www.otastro.org