Times were accurate. I started looking a couple of minutes early and saw nothing but then it just "seemed to appear" right at the zenith. Very bright and easy to see. But then I looked away and then back and I could not see it for a bit. Kept trying and it was back. This time I kept my eyes on it for nearly a minute and watched it start to fade. Looked away when it was about half way up the NE and back and lost it for good. First saw it at 1828. Last about 90 seconds later. I think it was kind of like trying to see Venus in daylight. Hard to get the eyes to focus but once you find it it's easy. All things considered I think this evening, at one minute past official sunset for my area, was the closest to daylight I've ever seen any satellite (not counting daylight Iridium flares). Anyone else see it? patrick On 31 Oct 2010, at 18:36, Rodger C. Fry wrote:
Patrick,
Are you sure about the time. I went out and stayed out until 6:33 PM and didn't see anything. I had clouds in the lower 15 degrees of the southwest skies but clear elsewhere and didn’t see it. With mag -4.1 it should have been like a beacon.
Thanks Rodger Fry
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 4:48 PM To: utah astronomy utah astronomy listserve Subject: [Utah-astronomy] ISS this evening
Challenging pass of ISS this evening (challenging because it occurs right at sunset).
Here are data computed for my place but should be good for all of most eveyone on this list (well except for Rob but he'll probably be drinking something cool on a beach somewhere at the time <g>):
Sunset 18h27m Appears 18h23m55s 3.3mag az:236.4° WSW horizon Culmination 18h28m52s -4.1mag az:324.4° NW h:72.8° distance: 370.6km height above Earth: 356.3km elevation of sun: -1° Disappears 18h33m36s -1.1mag az: 52.4° NE h:1.2°
patrick