T O P I C R E V I E W |
DavidH | quote: On May 13th, weather permitting, sky watchers up and down the US east coast can see the International Space Station (ISS) glide by the planet Jupiter. The ISS looks like a slow-moving meteor, as bright as Jupiter itself. When the two converge ... it's going to be beautiful.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/12may_issjupiter.htm ------------------ http://www.hatbag.net/blog.html "America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow." - Commander Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Mission, 11 December 1972 |
tegwilym | Darn it! Another east coast thing that I can't see over here in Seattle....that and the Venus transit. *sigh* Should be clear here tomorrow also. Tom |
collshubby | Would it be possible to catch an image of this through a telescope? Has it ever passed in front of the Moon before? That would be a sight. ------------------ Brian Peter astronautbrian@hotmail.com |
pokey | Caught ISS at 0537 this morning here in Houston. It was a 6 min. pass almost overhead, but because of the clouds I could only catch a few seconds. It was great anyway. |
Glint | quote: Has it ever passed in front of the Moon before? That would be a sight.
Yes, it's pretty common for the ISS to transit the moon. This link has an image and a short video clip of such a transit event: http://members.aol.com/mrtsp91/iss.htm The unique aspect of the above image is that the ISS is fully illuminted. Other published images have shown it in silhouette. Transits of the sun occur quite often as well. [This message has been edited by Glint (edited May 13, 2004).] |
spaceuk | ISS "crossed near" Jupiter several times a few weeks ago from viewpoint here in UK but it was mid morning, too low for me to view and was just about dawn any way. |
collshubby | Glint, Thank you for posting that link. I am going to search on the net to see if I can find more images. ------------------ Brian Peter astronautbrian@hotmail.com |
Glint | quote: Originally posted by collshubby: I am going to search on the net to see if I can find more images.
SpaceUK mentioned there was a Jupiter transit visible from his region a couple of months ago. This site had an image of a transit of Jupiter by the ISS: http://mysite.freeserve.com/astro2/astro2_image_67.htm There are also more images and additional information here: http://iss-transit.sourceforge.net/ I might just go out and give it a try tonight
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Glint | Well, I watched the close appulse of ISS and Jupiter last night. Thought about taking a 5" astrophysics refractor and making a dash for the predicted center line within the same county a few miles further east but stayed home instead. Was taping an image provided by a videocamera at prime focus of a 12.5" Equatorial Newtonian. From my location the ISS missed Jupiter by perhaps a degree and so never entered the field of view. Time of closest approach was 21:34 EDT (01:34 05/14 UTC). Meanwhile I observed the encounter with a hand-held pair of 7x50 Fujinons. As the ISS rose in the southwest it brightened as its angle of illumination turned more favorable. It was intensely bright while receding to the northeast as it became fully illuminated by the sun. [This message has been edited by Glint (edited May 14, 2004).] |
FFrench | There are some amazing shots of an ISS solar transit here: http://www.satcom.freeserve.co.uk/isstrans.htm - well worth a look! FF |
lunarrv15 | Does the space station circle the earth slower without the space shuttle docked to it? I think I may have seen passing over last night May 16 around 9:30 as I was scanning the west skies using binocular for the comet NEAT. the website J-pass tracked it the same area of the sky. 10 degrees lower from the comet going WSW to N. It did not streaked across as I seen it with the shuttle docked. It was a slower pace. it came into view as I was looking through the binocular. though it was an airplane because I live near an airport. observed it with only my eye then quickly through the binocular then just the eye again. didn't have blinking lights. it was like a dot moving across the sky. was not expected to see it though was aware it is seen toward the west lately here |