Shuttle/ISS visible after undocking tonight, much of US

[racer7]

Thanks for creating this thread, MeteorWayne!<br /><br />My GF and I saw the 6:30 pass from Wisconsin. Very cool stuff! The brighter of the two definitely appeared to be trailing. I assumed that was the ISS. To me it had a bit of yellow or orangish coloration.

 

[haywood]

Saw them both in Ottawa at about 6:02pm moving from SW to NE.<br /><br />Came up fast over the horizon and wow...was it moving.<br />Haven't seen it since they put on the new Solar Arrays.<br />What a magnificent sight.<br /><br />Could clearly see both the station and the shuttle.<br />To me it was brighter than Venus but with a reddish glow.<br /><br />Disappeared almost directly overhead...a good 2 minute show.<br /><br />Beautiful!<br /><br />

 

[billonthehill]

Was amazing to see the two so close together. Looked like they were racing. Both were bright but the shuttle really lit up for a second about half way through the show. The weather was perfect and the view was fantastic for around two minutes or a hair more in the south most part of Minnesota. About 6:35 and it faded out slightly north of straight overhead.

 

[ldyaidan]

Well, I'm really jealous of all of you folks with clear skies. One of these days I'll have to move to the desert...<br /><br />Rae

 

[MeteorWayne]

I don't know if it's worth a thread here to alert anyone. <br />All you need to do is get in the habit of (when it's clear) seeing what will be visible.<br />Everyone needs to access either Heavens-above or a similar site to get accurate times and directions. I guess we could do a thread for discussions, though.<br /><br />I saw 10 satellites this morning between 5:11 and 5:54 AM while out freezing my butt off meteor observing. That's without knowing in advance what would be visible, since I don't want to be distracted from the meteors. That included two flying in formation, possibly two of the three in a NOSS triangle? In a bit I'll print out this morning's passes from H-A and see what it was I saw. That included 2 flashing satellites/rocket bodies.<br />I also thought I saw an unpredicted Iridium flare as well. A few of them are no longer under control, so the flares are not able to be forecasted. The flares depend on perfect alignment in X,Y, and Z directions for the door sized panels to cause such intense reflections, so the flare page doesn't cover the ones that have lost alignment.<br /><br />After I unthawed at home I went back out for a predicted mag -7 Iridium flare during nautical twilight.<br />Man they are awesome!<br /><br />If anybody cares, I saw 19 meteors in 2.2 hours including 7 Coma Berenicids (this was the peak night of this minor shower) and 2 Ursids (which peak 1900 UT on 12/22 with a ZHR of ~ 10)<br /><br />So maybe a satellite observation thread would be useful. What think ye, newsartist? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi there,<br /><br />MeteorWayne. It was too damn foggy here last night, although it did clear here about 6:15 this morning. Astronomical twilight had only just begun, but there were two bright meteors as a pair, possibly late Geminids, as their radiant appeared to be near Gemini's feet. Satellites & airliners were abundant, but no Iridium flares. It was quite chilly, about minus 2 Celsius, a thick frost on cars & the grass & the pavements were icy in places.<br /><br />Quite warm compared to New Jersey, USA probably.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

It was -3C here last night, my sleeping bag was covered in a thick layer of frost when I packed up this morning.<br />It's highly unlikely the meteors you saw were Geminids, since it's now 6 days past peak, and 3 days after the ZHR falls below 1.<br /><br />Most likely they were sporadics, or could have been the Coma Berenicids, which were pleasantly active last night. The COM's are very fast, up there with the Leonids, Orionids, and Perseids in velocity. My ZHR last night was probably near 6, a bit higher than expected, however they are not a shower with a lot of data. That's why it was worth my time last night. The radiant is near Leo's ummm, rear end. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yeah, sorry to kind of derail this into a meteor thread.<br />I try not to proselytize too much <img src="/images/icons/crazy.gif" /><br /><br />OK, perhaps a satellite observation thread, then?<br />That would encourage the curious to at least look up and see what's there?<br /><br />The first post should include links to Heavens-Above, NASA, and if anyone knows any other useful satellite sites, we could always add them later.<br /><br />PS, I'm not a satellite pro, but I've been watching them for 45 years, and see a lot during my meteor watches.<br /> I remember the thrill the first time I saw MIR and realized that three humans were going around the earth for months at a time, every 90 minutes. I found it exciting <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Regarding Deorbiting stuff. I haven't found too many good current links. A lot of old stuff. If you run across one, please add it <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>