193 was nothing like it was last evening. Last evening it was in the SE and very bright. Tonight it was in the SW so I expected it to be dimmer and it was. Unfortunately it was a lot dimmer. I'm hearing it has now started to tumble as it flirts with the upper atmosphere and that was evident tonight. I was only able to see it briefly when it rotated and flared near the end of the pass. Then faded quickly from view. Only visible for maybe 3 seconds. Moving very fast. Tonight was probably the last time we'll see it from here. Heavens Above calls for passes the next two nights but they'll also in the west (bad news for an evening pass) and much lower. Let's hope Rob gets to see the debris train. If I understand the times correctly it'll still be light at Maui but some on SeeSat are speculating it could be bright enough to be visible. patrick
Hi Patrick Just back from the summit where today we moved the POD into position, The POD is an old mil container that housed some of the early UH skyglow experiments that will now be the storage locker for our scopes. I also helped w/ the removal of the Faulkes Telescope secondary mirror that needed major recoating, it was a fantastic day but what's this about USA 193 coming down near Hawaii?? I know we have a shuttle/ISS pass at 7PM tonight but haven't checked in w/ Heavens Above yet.Details?? aloha Rob
On 18 Feb 2008, at 20:22, Rob Ratkowski Photography wrote:
...but what's this about USA 193 coming down near Hawaii??
Hi Rob, Not necessarily coming down near Hawaii but the intercept may happen near there. There's some thought that any debris field would be in Canada. You might want to sign on to SeeSat-L for a few days and follow developments there: http://satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html#Subs Cheers, patrick
Thanks Patrick a 10:30PM EST burn up is 5:30 for us and it would be looking into the bright, maybe the next orbit would be better :^) aloha Rob
I wish I had seen it last night because tonight was really less than spectacular. I caught the ISS earlier at ~6:50pm low in the south west but it was still quite visible and noticeably red from the inversion. USA 193 was higher than the ISS and moving in the opposite direction, but was much tougher to make out I didn't even catch a glimpse of it until it flared quite brightly but very brief, maybe 1/2 second at the most just as it passed under Gamma Pegasi "Algenib", then it faded until it was just barely visible to the naked eye, if I hadn't caught it when it flared I would've missed it entirely. I was still able to follow it up under Cassiopea and over the roof line of my home until it faded into the haze of SLC near Polaris. I took pictures of both ISS and USA 193 but the ISS barely registered and all I see on the shots of USA 193 are some stars no streak. Hopefully they get good shots of the debris field on thursday, at least I can say I saw it before it came down. Howard --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:
193 was nothing like it was last evening.
Last evening it was in the SE and very bright.
Tonight it was in the SW so I expected it to be dimmer and it was. Unfortunately it was a lot dimmer.
I'm hearing it has now started to tumble as it flirts with the upper atmosphere and that was evident tonight.
I was only able to see it briefly when it rotated and flared near the end of the pass. Then faded quickly from view. Only visible for maybe 3 seconds.
Moving very fast.
Tonight was probably the last time we'll see it from here. Heavens Above calls for passes the next two nights but they'll also in the west (bad news for an evening pass) and much lower.
Let's hope Rob gets to see the debris train. If I understand the times correctly it'll still be light at Maui but some on SeeSat are speculating it could be bright enough to be visible.
patrick
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com
http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
We were in Death Valley over the weekend and there was a ranger-led satellite-watching event in the parking lot of the visitor's center Saturday night. 193 was first up and was very bright. Our 6-year-old was the first to spot the ISS/shuttle combo as it cleared the trees a couple minutes later. Pretty good turnout - maybe 50 people. Seeing wasn't the best - bright moon, parking-lot lamps and light pollution from nearby DV ranch had the sky pretty bright. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:
193 was nothing like it was last evening.
Last evening it was in the SE and very bright.
Tonight it was in the SW so I expected it to be dimmer and it was. Unfortunately it was a lot dimmer.
I'm hearing it has now started to tumble as it flirts with the upper
atmosphere and that was evident tonight.
I was only able to see it briefly when it rotated and flared near the
end of the pass. Then faded quickly from view. Only visible for maybe 3 seconds.
Moving very fast.
Tonight was probably the last time we'll see it from here. Heavens Above calls for passes the next two nights but they'll also in the west (bad news for an evening pass) and much lower.
Let's hope Rob gets to see the debris train. If I understand the times correctly it'll still be light at Maui but some on SeeSat are speculating it could be bright enough to be visible.
patrick
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
participants (4)
-
Howard Jackman -
Patrick Wiggins -
Rob Ratkowski Photography -
Scott Catron