SPACE

craigt · Post by **craigt** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:47 pm 0

I saw them both as well

I was trying to work out if it was already in the sky when I went outside, but it was obvious when it appeared. ISS was much brighter than I thought it was going to be.

The binoculars didn't really help. It just made the dot seem brighter

They are only a small pair of binoculars, though. You might be able to see some detail with a larger pair.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:50 pm 0

craigt wrote:I saw them both as well

I was trying to work out if it was already in the sky when I went outside, but it was obvious when it appeared. ISS was much brighter than I thought it was going to be.

The binoculars didn't really help. It just made the dot seem brighter They are only a small pair of binoculars, though. You might be able to see some detail with a larger pair.

Yeah ISS was very bright, the shuttle wasn't too bad here either. Amazing how two dots can convey a sense of awe!

I would imagine it would be hard to track with a telescope but it would be cool to see some detail.

zip accident · Post by **zip accident** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:14 pm 0

teamonkey wrote:
zip accident wrote:I don't like this the way this is being sold. Space travel is important. Here it's being trivialised into a circus for the masses, and that's all wrong.
It's fucking cool though.

It was cool in the 1960s.

I saw Apollo on TV, I'm not sure whether the time of day was right for me to have seen "A small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind" live, if it was I probably did.

This is too little, too late. Better than nothing, but there could, and should, have been so much more

.

Skylab was a huge Apollo section, it was left to crash and burn for lack of funding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab

From the 1970s to now space travel should have become workaday, that it hasn't become so is tragic.

I did go downstairs with my bins, but there was a streetlight straight overhead, and an auto-light (burglar scarer, you know the sort) which was brighter than the streetlight, so I gave up.

Maybe I'm realising I'm old. I want space to be better than this, like it was in the good old days.

Zoot · Post by **Zoot** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:24 pm 0

My work is done

There will be another good opportunity tomorrow night as well.

When you look at the ISS (what youare seeingis the sun reflecting off the thing) keep your eyes fixed on it and you will see an ocassional vertical lit thing sticking up from it - this isn't your eyes playing up, it's the solar arrays and modules - the ISS is HUGE.

When you see the shuttle, you are seeing the light reflecting off the white top (rudder, cockpit and cargo bays) because it flies "upside down".

With binoculars you can indeed see enough details to make you want to cream

Orava · Post by **Orava** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 1:13 am 0

Zoot wrote:My work is done

There will be another good opportunity tomorrow night as well.

When you look at the ISS (what youare seeingis the sun reflecting off the thing) keep your eyes fixed on it and you will see an ocassional vertical lit thing sticking up from it - this isn't your eyes playing up, it's the solar arrays and modules - the ISS is HUGE.

When you see the shuttle, you are seeing the light reflecting off the white top (rudder, cockpit and cargo bays) because it flies "upside down".

With binoculars you can indeed see enough details to make you want to cream

About quater past 9pm tomorrow looks good, it will go straight overhead here. Why is the shuttle ahead of ISS tomorrow if it was behind it today? When do they dock?

PVB · Post by **PVB** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:31 am 0

Orava wrote:
Zoot wrote:My work is done

There will be another good opportunity tomorrow night as well.

When you look at the ISS (what youare seeingis the sun reflecting off the thing) keep your eyes fixed on it and you will see an ocassional vertical lit thing sticking up from it - this isn't your eyes playing up, it's the solar arrays and modules - the ISS is HUGE.

When you see the shuttle, you are seeing the light reflecting off the white top (rudder, cockpit and cargo bays) because it flies "upside down".

With binoculars you can indeed see enough details to make you want to cream
About quater past 9pm tomorrow looks good, it will go straight overhead here. Why is the shuttle ahead of ISS tomorrow if it was behind it today? When do they dock?

Docking is sometime later today.

DTB · Post by **DTB** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:55 am 0

just a heads up folks, leonid meteor shower on the 13th from 12 til peak at 3 am.

WiteWulf · Post by **WiteWulf** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:05 am 0

Orava wrote: About quater past 9pm tomorrow looks good, it will go straight overhead here. Why is the shuttle ahead of ISS tomorrow if it was behind it today? When do they dock?

Brilliant... I had no idea this was possible...not off to the pub tonight so I'll have a look

Zoot · Post by **Zoot** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:28 am 0

WiteWulf wrote:
Orava wrote: About quater past 9pm tomorrow looks good, it will go straight overhead here. Why is the shuttle ahead of ISS tomorrow if it was behind it today? When do they dock?
Brilliant... I had no idea this was possible...not off to the pub tonight so I'll have a look

Another convert!

There are about 9000 man-made objects that are visible with the naked eye - using a piece of software like Starry Night Pro you can see the positions of all onjects (man-made and natural!) at any time of the day and night. It's fun....... but addictive

WiteWulf · Post by **WiteWulf** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:36 am 0

Zoot wrote:
WiteWulf wrote: Brilliant... I had no idea this was possible...not off to the pub tonight so I'll have a look
Another convert!

There are about 9000 man-made objects that are visible with the naked eye - using a piece of software like Starry Night Pro you can see the positions of all onjects (man-made and natural!) at any time of the day and night. It's fun....... but addictive

Hmm...hang on there...seeing the ISS and Endeavor sounds pretty cool, but looking out for 9000 other man-made objects doesn't have quite the same appeal

I'm one of these people who get really excited about space when they put exciting looking stuff on the TV, y'see, all the real science stuff is just wasted on me. I'm one of the Masses in the Trivial Circus Tent of space flight

perranegra · Post by **perranegra** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:04 pm 0

Oooh, I think I saw the ISS... if it was it was moving damn fast!

Anyway will have a look again tomorrow... for those in or around Hull,UK...

ISS Sat Aug 11/09:41 PM 5min 55deg 10 above W 12 above ESE
ISS Sat Aug 11/11:16 PM 2min 23deg 10 above W 23 above SW
ISS Sun Aug 12/10:03 PM 4min 44deg 10 above W 20 above SE

Orava · Post by **Orava** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:30 pm 0

Yay, saw the ISS today, fairly impressive, definately just not a point of light, it had features. Possibly saw the shuttle too but it was hard to tell as it was by no means completely dark at 9:15PM. Just an idea of something going over your head quite fast. The ISS was quite unmissable though, even managed to drag the nine-month pregnant wife out to look at it, which must count for something.

Zoot · Post by **Zoot** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:44 am 0

merman · Post by **merman** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 11:45 am 0

Damage to Endeavour caused during take-off spotted:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6940531.stm

Doesn't sound serious, but a worrying moment nevertheless

WiteWulf · Post by **WiteWulf** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:53 pm 0

Wow...the gf and me clocked a real good look at the ISS and Endeavor while stood outside the chippy last night on the 21:18 pass. ISS was *very* bright going over Nottingham, all the little chavs in the precinct wanted to know what I was getting excited about so I explained and they seemed genuinely impressed

Thanks *so* much to you guys for letting me know about this, it was really inspiring knowing that we were looking at something man had put into space, 183 miles away, moving at 4 miles a second.

They're both heading over Notts again tonight at 21:40, moving directly from West to East for 6 minutes so I'll drag my folks outside for a look as they're staying with us tonight