The International Space Station - Round Two
All day Thursday, I couldn't get over seeing the International Space Station on Wednesday night as it passed 350km overhead. So, after a bit of internet research, I found that seeing conditions for it were to be favorable in Fürth for the next week or so, as the ISS would be passing overhead around sundown. The light of the sun, although no longer reaching us on the ground, would still brilliantly light up the solar panels of the station.
According to my information, the ISS would pass over Fürth around 19:35 hours local. This time I went outside on the deck and stood on the railing, looking over a rooftop covered with solar panels from our neighbor. Right on schedule, the ISS became visible about 10° above due west and moved across the sky, slightly to the northeast. It became brighter and brighter, reaching again a magnitude of around -2.5 I would guess, about like Mars at opposition, again as orange as the "red" planet as well. After the ISS transited my position, it suddenly started dimming, as I assume that the station was suddenly entering the earth's shadow. I quickly put my Minolta 10x25 binoculars up to my glasses and amazingly saw the thing disappear from view, as if the occupants had turned on a Star Trek cloaking device. Wow!
The weather report for the weekend is unfortunately calling for rain here, so I may not be able to catch it again for a while. It is really something to see.
Gentle readers, if you are interested in seeing the thing for yourself, drop me a line with your longitude and latitude, and I can research when it would be visible around sunset from your location on planet Earth.
According to my information, the ISS would pass over Fürth around 19:35 hours local. This time I went outside on the deck and stood on the railing, looking over a rooftop covered with solar panels from our neighbor. Right on schedule, the ISS became visible about 10° above due west and moved across the sky, slightly to the northeast. It became brighter and brighter, reaching again a magnitude of around -2.5 I would guess, about like Mars at opposition, again as orange as the "red" planet as well. After the ISS transited my position, it suddenly started dimming, as I assume that the station was suddenly entering the earth's shadow. I quickly put my Minolta 10x25 binoculars up to my glasses and amazingly saw the thing disappear from view, as if the occupants had turned on a Star Trek cloaking device. Wow!
The weather report for the weekend is unfortunately calling for rain here, so I may not be able to catch it again for a while. It is really something to see.
Gentle readers, if you are interested in seeing the thing for yourself, drop me a line with your longitude and latitude, and I can research when it would be visible around sunset from your location on planet Earth.
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