POSSIBLE SUPER VIEWS OF ISS/STS

[Rotorhead]

There is a possible bit of serendipity tomorrow morning, Monday 5 November at 5:52 am. If all goes as scheduled, the ISS and Shuttle are scheduled to undock at around 5:30 tomorrow, and then make a pass over this area 20 minutes later, reaching more than 60 degrees high in a SW to E pass.

If you have never seen these two in close proximity flying into the rising sun, then you have not really seen an ISS/Shuttle flyover. I witnessed this configuration about five years ago, and it was spectacular. The potential is for a nearly direct sun reflection off the oncoming orbiters, and they may reach magnitudes above -1.

The only thing that worries me is that Heavens Above and NASA do not agree on this, so it is possible that it will not happen. NASA has the pass on their schedule, but Heavens Above shows no pass on Monday. Since the ISS passes are fairly regularly spaced from day to day, I'm not sure why this would be, unless Heavens Above figures that we will have poor visiblity on Monday - the Clear Sky Clock seems to feel that we will be in average seeing conditions. Heavens Above and NASA agree exactly for yesterday's pass and today's, but not on tomorrow's. Then Heavens Above has slightly divergent times for the passes vis-a-vis NASA.

So, unless someone can tell me where to research to resolve this discrepancy, I will simply cross my fingers and go outside hoping to see it. It is rare that you would get a chance to see both vehicles so close together in a head-on sunrise pass with a high zenith, so I feel it will be worth a few lost minutes of sleep just in case it does happen.

[Galactus]

Perhaps the discrepancy is due to Heavens Above believing that because of the change to EST it may be too bright to observe either?

[Mark G]

Maybe George good idea. What does your ISS software say George?

[Rotorhead]

That may well be the cutoff for Heavens Above, but I was looking at Venus this morning in a fully blue sky at about 7am, and I think the Shuttle/ISS will be bright enough an hour earlier than that. I'll be out there, anyways. It was a light dawn sky the previous time I saw this, and they showed up from the horizon to well past my house. Looks are free, so I'll be out there.

[Galactus]

The software does not discriminate as to brightness, that I can tell, just to location. CalSky and other Sat tracking sites do this too. Only Heavens Above seems to take the brightness of the sky into account, often to their detriment as oerhaps in this case...I will research further and if I find anything useful before going to bed, I will post here...otherwise, I too, plan on being up tomorrow early AM...

[Dan Chieppa]

Good luck with the ISS viewing. Weather doesn't look promising and I'm not much of an early riser.
Clear skies,
Dan

[Dark Helmet]

Guys,

The ISS flew over right on time at 5:55AM this morning. I was outside waiting for the car to warm up and there it was. I did not see the space shuttle follow behind, so I assume it was still attached. As ISS went from SW to E at 60-65 degree's in elevation, it's brightness almost double as it went towards the Sun.

Matt

[Pete]

I happened to be up at about the same time Matt, but the conjunction of Luna & Venus was so blinding that I saw little else.

[Dark Helmet]

Pete,

The Luna/Venus conjunction was pretty cool also. Even in the early morning twilight, the ISS was plainly visible to me. I would guesstimate ISS to be about -2 Mag. or a hair dimmer than Venus this morning. I was really amazed to me at how bright ISS got as it dove eastward into the Sun. Those newer and giant solar arrays make ISS BRIGHT in the sky.

Matt

[Galactus]

Darn. I never checked the time of the pass. I was up around 5:30 in my pajamas and was impressed with how dark it was. the East was totally clear until a few degrees above my horizon, which had scattered clouds. however, the west was clouded over to just beyond zenith, but I had the impression it would clear. It was cold and I thought I had missed the pass. I enjoyed Venus and Luna for a while, shivered a bit and finally went in...I shoulda waited a few minutes longer....sigh

[Rotorhead]

Late report here, since I left for NH soon after viewing the pass.

The ISS/STS came into view right on NASA's schedule, in a cloudy sky, with hopeful open areas that seemed to be in the right place for viewing. Naked eye, there appeared to be only one object. Having watched NASA TV until the last possible moment before heading outside, I knew that the separation of the vehicles was only about 200-250 feet, so I checked with my 10x50 binoculars, and a smaller object was disctinctly visible leading a larger object, looking for all the world like a moving double star! Separation appeared to be just a few arc seconds, more like two dissimilar points of light nearly attached together.

A quick glance over my shoulder revealed that the ISS might pass within 15-20 degrees from the Venus/Luna conjunction (which was gorgeous, by the way!!). I had my wife's digital camera, and with it set in the highest ISO position, I hand-shot several photos of the 'triple conjunction' as the ISS flew past, and actually succeeded in getting a very grainy shot showing all three objects (four actually: ISS, STS, Luna, Venus) in one photo. The ISS/STS pair is nearly lost in the noise of the background, and I have not had time to see if I can process some of the noise out of it. If I succeed, I'll post it. Otherwise, I'm sure that the ISS pair will not be visible in any downloads. As Matt noted, they brightened as the sun caught the solar panels, and then I lost them in the neighbor's trees, seeing glimpses of them almost to the horizon, flitting between branches.

However, it is always a thrill to see real spacecraft flying over your house with ten human beings aboard, out there trying to develop our 'space legs' so that we can finally embark on our next great human expansion. It is a great time to be alive.