Shuttle Launch Visible from Ireland Tonight

Calibos · 12-07-2009 01:42PM #1

Just a heads up about tonights Shuttle Launch. It was postponed last night due to a Lightning strike at the launch pad and has been re-scheduled for tonight. Very Lucky for us as the weather yesterday and last night was attrocious whereas tonight the forecast is for some clear skies.

Should be higher up and brighter too than if they had launched last night.

Its certainly visible from Ireland and I presume from parts of the UK.

Its going to be a treat of manmade objects blazing across the heavens tonight. At about 12:01 am there is a 70º altitude ISS pass followed shortly thereafter by a Progress Re-supply vehicle on its way to the ISS. Then at about 12:30 we will see the Shuttle and its Jettisoned Orange main fuel tank a degree or so below blaze across the skies 18 minutes after its launch from Florida in the USA.

Get out there with your Bino's and laptops and watch the Launch on Nasa TV. It'll be cool if they show live footage of the Fuel Tank Jettisoning and you'll be able to see the real deal at the same time!

Just thought I would post this in a separate thread to the STS128 to the ISS thread. That thread title might not catch the eye of casual browsers and they might not realise that the subject of that thread has become the Shuttle and Jettisoned main fuel tank visible from Ireland tonight.

drunkmonkey · 12-07-2009 01:44PM

Can you see it with the naked eye, what will it look like, shooting star?

Wella · 12-07-2009 02:48PM

Thanks for the heads up

Calibos · 12-07-2009 02:56PM

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Can you see it with the naked eye, what will it look like, shooting star?

Not a shooting star with a tail. But it'll look like a pair or bright stars moving across the southern sky west to east quite fast. Not sure if one will be able to detect the orange tint of the jettisoned main fuel tank with the naked eye, but the orange colour should be visible in Binoculars.

The ISS pass before hand will be higher in the sky nearly over head travelling from west to east and that should be really bright. If you remember the really bright star in the west last Christmas which was actually the Planet Venus or if you have recently seen a really bright star in the South east in the wee hours on your way home from the pub which is actually the Planet Jupiter, well then that will give you an idea of how bright the ISS passing overhead will be. The Shuttle and Fuel Tank will be a bit dimmer than that though.

Heres a vid of the last time a shuttle launch and fuel tank was visible from Ireland.

mike65 · 12-07-2009 03:00PM

Two of them!

You can track it here.

http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=Ireland&region=None&city=Waterford

Ricky91t · 12-07-2009 03:09PM

Cool i'm gonna look out for this

,I have open fields to the left(west) of my house so a nice clear sky,Is this where i'll see it?(looking in the general direction of America?

Thargor · 12-07-2009 08:27PM

Anyone know what the story is now that it was delayed? Wheres the best place to track this?

Calibos · 12-07-2009 08:32PM

It was last nights launch that was delayed 24 hours due to Lightning strikes on the Launch pad. Its a Go for Launch tonight as far as I know unless you have new info Thargor mate.

Ostrom · 12-07-2009 08:40PM

Calibos wrote: »

It was last nights launch that was delayed 24 hours due to Lightning strikes on the Launch pad. Its a Go for Launch tonight as far as I know unless you have new info Thargor mate.

Hope the weather holds...

amacachi · 12-07-2009 08:43PM

Naked eye any use?

murphyme · 12-07-2009 08:47PM

amacachi wrote: »

Naked eye any use?

It's a lovely naked eye sight, well worth watching.

Michael.

mike65 · 12-07-2009 08:58PM

Typically its clouded in.

refusetolose · 12-07-2009 09:00PM

full of clouds here in cork too

Ostrom · 12-07-2009 09:02PM

Looks like a large storm moving toward Dublin from Kildare

Thargor · 12-07-2009 09:05PM

Its clear-ish in Galway, around 00:30 tonight then is it? What was the exact time?

120_Minutes · 12-07-2009 09:15PM

according to nasa tv, launch is 7:15 local time, so 12:15 here.

skelliser · 12-07-2009 09:17PM

according to heavens above iss will pass at 12.01
shuttle will launch at 12.13 so around 12.25-12.30 should be the time to have a look

Thargor · 12-07-2009 09:20PM

Sweet, thanks, still clear skies here, touch wood.

12-07-2009 09:28PM

Thanks for letting us know about this. Skies are semi-clear here in Galway, so fingers crossed that the conditions hold.

floydmoon1 · 12-07-2009 09:55PM

Should I be looking north or south for this.
What area if Ireland will it pass over.

skelliser · 12-07-2009 10:22PM

you should look to the south west all the objects will come from that direction, cross the sky and fade out in the east

mike65 · 12-07-2009 10:48PM

There is a link above to show when and where.

Fuzzy Clam · 12-07-2009 10:56PM

Sky News just announced a no go.
Edit. They now say NASA are still monitoring the situation.

Mr Benevolent · 12-07-2009 10:57PM

Looks like the launch is going to be scrubbed - there are thunderstorms close by

(The countdown is still going though, no announcement yet)

draward · 12-07-2009 11:00PM

Hi guys is it going or not

:rolleyes::)

draward · 12-07-2009 11:04PM

Sorry guys no launch fox news tommrow at 6:15 pm:(:(:(:(:(:(

Calibos · 12-07-2009 11:05PM

No. Just as well too. Weather not playing ball for most of us to see it here anyway. Forecast clear patch arriving behind schedule near dawn as opposed to midnight like the weather sites were forecasting earlier.

Mr Benevolent · 12-07-2009 11:05PM

Nope, it's not going. Tomorrow maybe.

Thargor · 12-07-2009 11:05PM

NASA TV says its scrubbed:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Tomorrow, damn it, had clear skies in Galway aswell, doh.

Doc Farrell · 12-07-2009 11:13PM

saw the iss for 10 seconds. very cloudy in dublin. very cool though.

jumpguy · 12-07-2009 11:17PM

Yerra feck. Reasonable skies here, enough to see the ISS anyway.

With the launch so early in the evening tomorrow (6.15pm) will it be visible?

podgeandrodge · 12-07-2009 11:19PM

Hi Guys, I'm in Dungarvan with clear skies. At about 12:04 I saw a bright "star" moving quickly across the sky - brighter than a normal star and moving quite quickly - lasted about 3 minutes - was this the ISS or am I a fool watching a plane (but it seemed too high for a plane!!)

jumpguy · 12-07-2009 11:23PM

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Hi Guys, I'm in Dungarvan with clear skies. At about 12:04 I saw a bright "star" moving quickly across the sky - brighter than a normal star and moving quite quickly - lasted about 3 minutes - was this the ISS or am I a fool watching a plane (but it seemed too high for a plane!!)

Probably, the ISS was heading west to east (from where the sun sets to the sun rises) and was very bright, so if what you saw was heading in that direction then it was the ISS. If it was a plane the lights would be flashing.

skelliser · 12-07-2009 11:23PM

ya that was it
i saw the progress re-supply ship as well, just ahead of it but alot dimmer

larchielads · 12-07-2009 11:25PM

breaking news on sky space shuttle launch postponed due to bad weather no news as to when its reschudled to launch yet

lord lucan · 12-07-2009 11:25PM

jumpguy wrote: »

Yerra feck. Reasonable skies here, enough to see the ISS anyway.
With the launch so early in the evening tomorrow (6.15pm) will it be visible?

Rescheduled to 23.51 irish time tomorrow,should be still visible weather permitting.

podgeandrodge · 12-07-2009 11:27PM

jumpguy wrote: »

Probably, the ISS was heading west to east (from where the sun sets to the sun rises) and was very bright, so if what you saw was heading in that direction then it was the ISS. If it was a plane the lights would be flashing.

Yep, it was it so. Completely clear sky. Extremely bright from west to east. I was surprised at how clear it was.

Denethor · 12-07-2009 11:28PM

skelliser wrote: »

ya that was it
i saw the progress re-supply ship as well, just ahead of it but alot dimmer

So that's what the light ahead of the ISS was. Never seen anything like it before, ISS was really bright tonight almost directly overhead here in Kerry.

jumpguy · 12-07-2009 11:36PM

Funny to think so many people around the country are looking at the exact same satellite passing as you are when you're watching it.

Where exactly in the sky will I see the shuttle btw? Just keep looking west?

just pete · 12-07-2009 11:37PM

Saw the iss too, Nice and bright over the midlands

bush Baby · 12-07-2009 11:44PM

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/07/12/space.shuttle.endeavour/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Archive video of Lightning hitting the shuttle launch pad

Ostrom · 12-07-2009 11:57PM

Is that a recently released module or one about to be picked up?

quietobserver · 13-07-2009 12:02AM

its been postponed until later on monday cause of lightning strikes, just heard it on the rte1 news there

13-07-2009 12:28AM

I saw the ISS alright, very bright. The sky stayed clear just long enough. It looked pretty good through binoculars, but I didn't have time to set up a telescope. I saw the re-supply ship as well.

Fingers crossed that the sky is clear tomorrow night.

Ricky91t · 13-07-2009 07:30AM

Denethor wrote: »

So that's what the light ahead of the ISS was. Never seen anything like it before, ISS was really bright tonight almost directly overhead here in Kerry.

How did you manage to see it??
I'm in Kerry and i was under loads of cloud!!

just pete · 13-07-2009 11:14AM

just pete wrote: »

Saw the iss too, Nice and bright over the midlands

And again at 01.39 but not as bright

Calibos · 13-07-2009 11:53AM

efla wrote: »

Is that a recently released module or one about to be picked up?

As far as I know its a Progress re-supply Vehicle alright but not the one you think it was. It was the last one. ie. A progress arrives and they take the supplies out. They then start filling it with rubbish over the following weeks. When the next Progress re-supply Vehicle is due, they jettison the last progress thats now filled with rubbish. They launch it ahead of the ISS so as not to risk collision with the new one coming up and on a trajectory that will de-orbit it and cause it to burn up in the atmosphere.

So the Progress you saw ahead of the ISS is the Previous rubbish filled one. You should have waited a minute or two and you would have seen the new one on its way to the ISS coming from behind. ie At the moment its behind by about 2 minutes, so just when the ISS disappears in the east, one would see the new Progress in the west. Over the next few nights, you'd see the new progress catching up.

Ostrom · 13-07-2009 11:58AM

Calibos wrote: »

As far as I know its a Progress re-supply Vehicle alright but not the one you think it was. It was the last one. ie. A progress arrives and they take the supplies out. They then start filling it with rubbish over the following weeks. When the next Progress re-supply Vehicle is due, they jettison the last progress thats now filled with rubbish. They launch it ahead of the ISS so as not to risk collision with the new one coming up and on a trajectory that will de-orbit it and cause it to burn up in the atmosphere.

So the Progress you saw ahead of the ISS is the Previous rubbish filled one. You should have waited a minute or two and you would have seen the new one on its way to the ISS coming from behind. ie At the moment its behind by about 2 minutes, so just when the ISS disappears in the east, one would see the new Progress in the west. Over the next few nights, you'd see the new progress catching up.

I see... Are those recovered on the ground or left to burn?

Beeker · 13-07-2009 12:18PM

efla wrote: »

I see... Are those recovered on the ground or left to burn?

Burn!

Calibos · 13-07-2009 12:30PM

Beeker wrote: »

Burn!

No they re-cycle. The normal rubbish goes in the Black Progress, the plastics and cardboard in the Green Progress and the leftovers and human waste in the Brown Progress.

Ostrom · 13-07-2009 12:38PM

Calibos wrote: »

No they re-cycle. The normal rubbish goes in the Black Progress, the plastics and cardboard in the Green Progress and the leftovers and human waste in the Brown Progress.

Now you're just making fun aren't you....

Shuttle Launch Visible from Ireland Tonight

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