Re: Shuttle sighting opportunities
Patrick wrote:
Same thing happened tonight as seen from here near SPOC except the momentary brightening was even more dramatic, brightening for a few seconds to nearly as bright as Venus. I wonder if the phenomena is somehow related to the newly installed solar arrays. I've seen several shuttle/station passes over the years but I've never seen "irridium-flare-like" brightenings like these.
I also saw one of these bright flare-ups, nearly the brightness of Venus, during last night's 11:30 pm local time overpass. It's a hot topic on the www.spaceweather.com . The June 14 www.spaceweather.com features an imaging sequence of an ISS overpass on June 11, including this amazing photograph: http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/14jun06/Storey1.jpg IMHO, the shuttle seems to be the reflecting surface, not the panels. Storey's image was taken with a 6 inch f/8. I've been mulling about how to take such a sequence. I am thinking that the best passes are those like last night - where the appearing and ending altitude do not change much - like 6/14 11:30pm - or where the appearing and disappearing azimuth do not change much - like 6/14 00:42. Then you would only have to track on one axis. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net
Hi All, Chuck Hards and I saw it at SPOC on Wensday the 13th at 11:10 PM no flare up noticed. When did the electrical system blow? Is the ISS done for?
Erik Patrick wrote:
Same thing happened tonight as seen from here near SPOC except the momentary brightening was even more dramatic, brightening for a few seconds to nearly as bright as Venus. I wonder if the phenomena is somehow related to the newly installed solar arrays. I've seen several shuttle/station passes over the years but I've never seen "irridium-flare-like" brightenings like these.
I also saw one of these bright flare-ups, nearly the brightness of Venus, during last night's 11:30 pm local time overpass. It's a hot topic on the www.spaceweather.com . The June 14 www.spaceweather.com features an imaging sequence of an ISS overpass on June 11, including this amazing photograph:
http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/14jun06/Storey1.jpg
IMHO, the shuttle seems to be the reflecting surface, not the panels.
Storey's image was taken with a 6 inch f/8.
I've been mulling about how to take such a sequence. I am thinking that the best passes are those like last night - where the appearing and ending altitude do not change much - like 6/14 11:30pm - or where the appearing and disappearing azimuth do not change much - like 6/14 00:42.
Then you would only have to track on one axis.
- Kurt
_______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net
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On 15 Jun 2007, at 15:30, erikhansen@TheBlueZone.net wrote:
Chuck Hards and I saw it at SPOC on Wensday the 13th at 11:10 PM no flare up noticed.
Last night (Thursday) was the first time I saw such a pronounced flare. We've an even higher pass tonight. It'll be interesting to see if the flares continue once ISS leaves.
When did the electrical system blow?
The problem is with some of the computers in the Russian part of the station and apparently started when they brought the new solar array on line.
Is the ISS done for?
No. Despite what the American media are trying to make of it. BBC, in comparison is barely mentioning it. pw
participants (3)
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erikhansen＠TheBlueZone.net -
Kurt Fisher -
Patrick Wiggins