International space station visible in Irish skies this week

Repli

Sorry if this has been posted already
From http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/07/02/story209733.html

Star-gazers can enjoy the sight of the International Space Station passing over the Irish skies this week.

The craft with two astronauts on board will be the brightest object visible to the eye every night until July 10.

It passes at a different time every evening, and can be seen for just a few minutes.

Anyone more info? Like what time will it be visible tonight?

Flukey

Try www.heavens-above.com and you will be able to get the times for your location. It is very accurate. Definitely a site to add to your favourites, for that and for many other things. I saw the ISS last night, though unexpectedly, as I just happened to be looking out the window at the time.

aidan_dunne

I've just watched it pass there a few minutes ago. Was travelling in roughly a southwest to southeast direction. I checked Heavens Above earlier to see if maybe there was a pass due some time this evening (even though that article above said it was only going to be visible till yesterday) and, sure enough, it said there was. I wasn't too confident of seeing it but I started looking around the sky from west to south roughly (Heavens Above directed me to look that way) at about 10.35 and, sure enough, at about 10.41 it appeared. Travelled across the sky in about three or four minutes.

Saw Mir loads of times over the years when that was in orbit but this was only maybe the fourth or fifth time overall I've seen the ISS. The last time I saw it was roughly two years ago and it still never fails to give me that sense of "Wow, cool!"

Flukey

If you haven't already done so, add Heavens Above to your favourites. It is very accurate for the ISS and great for other things too.

king3billy

Download & Install :Satscape:it is freeware,for faster access to satellite
tracking. Type in Satscape in searchbar to find it.
Bill.

JackieChan

Has anybody tried to view it with a telescope?

Flukey

You can't really properly view something like that with a telescope. It is moving too quickly. The best you could do is use a pair of binoculars. You still wouldn't see a lot. They'll be re-starting the construction of it, now that the Shuttle is flying again, so it will be getting a little bit bigger.

albertw

Flukey wrote:

You can't really properly view something like that with a telescope. It is moving too quickly. The best you could do is use a pair of binoculars. You still wouldn't see a lot. They'll be re-starting the construction of it, now that the Shuttle is flying again, so it will be getting a little bit bigger.

Well you can if you stick a webcam onto the scope and image it. In fact there is an IFAS challenge for doing that with the ISS (still unclaimed!).

Last time I tried visually tracking the ISS the scopes motors had trouble keeping up with it.

Flukey

Exactly. You'd need a pretty special system to be able to do it. Trying to do it with a regular telescope is just impractical. Binoculars are your best bet and even at that you would not do a lot better than with the naked eye.

On another topic, I saw my first meteor as part of the Perseids last night. As Albertw and others will know, they don't peak until about August 12th, but you should be able to see a few even now. I just happened to be looking at the right part of the sky when one flew past last night, near Aquarius as it happened. Whatever about the ISS JackieChan, you have no chance of following a meteor with a telescope. I have on occasions seen one fly through my vision when using a telescope or binoculars, but that is as good as it gets.

I saw a satellite last night around the same time as the meteor. Here is one for you Albertw, I am sure I once saw a satellite take a sharp turn, close to 90°. Can or does that happen or do they always travel straight?

albertw

Flukey wrote:

I saw a satellite last night around the same time as the meteor. Here is one for you Albertw, I am sure I once saw a satellite take a sharp turn, close to 90°. Can or does that happen or do they always travel straight?

Well they should always travel in a curve, they are in a roughly circular orbit around the earth afterall. That can appear as appear straight from where you are. I've never heard or even seen one make such a noticable turn. I cant even think of a situation where that could arise even as an illusion. That would mean that the satellite had some means of propulsion to change its orbit. I'm sure many satelites have this capability to alter their orbits, but orbit boosts are usually just elevation boots, or slight angular changes, not 90 degrees. Sorry I cant be of more help!

albertw

Flukey wrote:

Whatever about the ISS JackieChan, you have no chance of following a meteor with a telescope. I have on occasions seen one fly through my vision when using a telescope or binoculars, but that is as good as it gets.

The best equipment for meteor watching is a good comfortable chair blanket/sleepingbag and flash of tea/coffee! Not too comfortable mind you, you can easily fall asleep :-)

Flukey

I know satellites curve; give me some credit! I did think it was fairly strange alright, when I saw that satellite turn like that. As to the Perseids, last night was very clear and currently it is clear over Dublin, so there is a good chance of seeing more tonight. There is a chance that it will cloud up later tonight and things are not looking good for tomorrow. Still we have a few weeks left.

You are right about the chair and blanket etc. The biggest problem is that they go so quick. Sometimes you wonder "Did I really see that?", especially at a time of year when there are no active showers. There is no following evidence either. Even during showers getting a perfect view of one is often a matter of luck, just happening to be watching the exact right place. Even when you know where they generally emanate from, they can be anywhere and most you see are out of the corner of your eye, rather than directly in front of you. Still a wonderful sight though.

Flukey

It has become a lot cloudier since that last post so I don't think there is much chance of seeing anything tonight. Oh well, as all us astronomers have to comfort ourselves with regularly "there will be other nights."

Cathy

It was very clear last night in Donegal - no sign of a cloud between eleven and two.
I saw about one meteor every two minutes, and I wasn't even looking for them

albertw

Cathy wrote:

It was very clear last night in Donegal - no sign of a cloud between eleven and two.
I saw about one meteor every two minutes, and I wasn't even looking for them

Interesting. Even if only half we Perseids that puts the hourly rate well above the curve for a Perseid activity this early. Even taking all the showers happening at the moment (most are very minor with radiants in the south), you would only expect maybe 5 per hour.

Cathy

albertw wrote:

Interesting. Even if only half we Perseids that puts the hourly rate well above the curve for a Perseid activity this early. Even taking all the showers happening at the moment (most are very minor with radiants in the south), you would only expect maybe 5 per hour.

That was only for a few minutes, it wasn't that high all night! I wasn't watching for them for long. Sorry, I should have said.

quarryman

king3billy wrote:

Download & Install :Satscape:it is freeware,for faster access to satellite
tracking. Type in Satscape in searchbar to find it.
Bill.

that program is pissing me off. all i wanna know is what time i can see the satellite tonight. anyone know?

Cathy

Try www.heavens-above.com.

Flukey

I saw a really good meteor last night. It was a lot brighter than most I've ever seen.

whyulittle

Flukey wrote:

I saw a really good meteor last night. It was a lot brighter than most I've ever seen.

I saw three great ones leaving trails last night between 2:15 and 3:15. A load of other less bright ones, not to mention a shed load of satellites, or what I hope were satellites! Heading in general SE and NW directions. The strangest one though, I only caught a glimpse of it when it was directly overhead. It was heading northwest, but 'pulsing' as it went. Then it just totally disappeared!

Shrimp

anyone got any pics of the iss at night?

Flukey

anyone got any pics of the iss at night?

It is just like a very bright moving star. You wouldn't be able to see any details on it. It will be crossing Ireland again from early to mid September. Check out www.heavens-above.com around then. Their times are always very accurate. It is a very good site and highly recommended, as you can see by the amount of times it gets a mention in this forum. If you haven't done so, go to it and register.

Flukey

Typical. With the height of the Perseids coming, it has been cloudy most nights this week so far.:(

hamster

Flukey wrote:

Typical. With the height of the Perseids coming, it has been cloudy most nights this week so far.:(

And Gawd it was a good sky the night before... might get a look in over next few nights. I saw Mars briefly marking it to the east but of the course after 1am it was gone under a blanket of close... sigh!

hamster

Oops! Off topic - but Mars was out again last night and the Pleaides next to it. I saw one meteor streak across the sky. A fairly dim one. Last xmas I saw a brighter pure yellow streak which was better than this! Then again last night the clouds came and wentso it was haphazard at best. Great to see Mars though.

albertw

hamster wrote:

And Gawd it was a good sky the night before... might get a look in over next few nights. I saw Mars briefly marking it to the east but of the course after 1am it was gone under a blanket of close... sigh!

The Persieds were nothing special this year. Thursday night/ Friday morning I drove down to wicklow since the skies were clearing. The sky was very steady and clear, but only a couple of good perseids, it wasnt as good as presious years "night before the peak" observing sessions.

Friday night I went to Tullamore and got a gap in the clouds for an hour or so, about 5 hours after maximum. Again there were not many perseids, and only one meteor that got a gasp from the crowd.

Reading reports online it seems that this years shower was very disapponting.

whyulittle

Am I right in thinking the ISS is coming back into our skies this week?

Flukey

You will get all the dates and times to see it through www.heavens_above.com so register if you have not already done so.

Flukey

I saw it tonight again by chance. I just happened to look out the window and there it was. So I went out for a better look. It was more overhead and following a slightly different trajectory than it normally has when I have seen it, but it is unmistakeable. You can still see it for a while, so check out Heavens Above and see when.

whyulittle

Caught a glimpse of it last night as well at around 10:50, thanks to Heavens Above! First time to see it, at least knowingly! It's mad tracking it with the realtime map on Heavens Above, and then seeing it fly overhead right when it should !

Flukey

It is very accurate. Have a look over the coming nights.