bigguy
Member
Posts: 2684
VRCC# 30728
Texarkana, TX
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« on: October 29, 2012, 12:08:29 PM » |
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The International Space Station will be flying almost directly over Texarkana tonight.(10/29/2012) It will appear from the northwest (314°) at 7:55 p.m. and go down down in the southeast (134°) at 8:07 p.m. Anybody in NE Texas should have a good shot at spotting it.
There is an app called ISS spotter available for free for the iPhone. It's probably also available for Android too. This is a cool app that tells you where the ISS is at any given moment. It also tells you when ther are flyovers of your location, and where to look.
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Here there be Dragons.  |
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bigguy
Member
Posts: 2684
VRCC# 30728
Texarkana, TX
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« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2012, 06:56:49 PM » |
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I just watched the International Space Station go overhead. It was cool. I first picked it up about 30° above the horizon, coming from the northwest. It was bright, but at first didn't show a lot of apparent motion. It appeared to pickup speed as it climbed into the sky. By the time it was directly overhead, it was really moving.
I had a pair of binoculars, hoping to be able to discern a shape. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hold them steady enough for a good look. I think that if I'd had then tripod mounted, I probably could have seen an actual shape.
It was initially yellow in color. But as it reached apex, it began to turn more orange. It continued to reflect longer wavelengths, eventually turing a very reddish orange, before fading out as it passed into earth's shadow. I've seen smaller satellites before and have witnessed them appear to just blink out as they pass into shadow. I was surprised that the ISS took so much longer. I suppose it is the greater size. Whatever the reason, it was a thrilling and inspiring sight.
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Here there be Dragons. |
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Rocketman
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« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2012, 07:17:22 PM » |
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Glad you got to see it. Those are your tax dollars at work, performing groundbreaking science experiments, achieving huge advancements in technology, and developing massive capabilities in engineering that benefit all humans on Earth.
[/commercial-advertisement]
Seriously, I get excited thinking about all the cool stuff I get to work on, and watching it fly overhead is one of the ways that the general public can experience the program as well.
Mark
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chauffeur
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« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2012, 07:40:23 PM » |
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I watched it also. Was surprised on how bright it was. Only visible for three minutes tonight, look likes it should be five minutes later this week.
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BeeSharp
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« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2012, 04:57:07 AM » |
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That was cool - thank you!  I found my old binoculars and that really improved the view. I was surprised how well you could see it. |
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98 Valkyrie - The Black Pearl, a fine ship-n-crew, arrr matey!
77 GL1000 The Mach5
83 GL1100 Top Gun Project
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bigguy
Member
Posts: 2684
VRCC# 30728
Texarkana, TX
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« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2012, 07:51:12 AM » |
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That was cool - thank you! I found my old binoculars and that really improved the view. I was surprised how well you could see it. Could you make out a shape? |
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Here there be Dragons. |
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BeeSharp
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« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2012, 07:59:34 AM » |
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That was cool - thank you! I found my old binoculars and that really improved the view. I was surprised how well you could see it. Could you make out a shape? Not a lot of detail, but you could plainly see it was a long slender object. |
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Logged
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98 Valkyrie - The Black Pearl, a fine ship-n-crew, arrr matey!
77 GL1000 The Mach5
83 GL1100 Top Gun Project
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