Saw the spacelab last night

[kiteman]

Last night my sis told me that the spacelab will fly over our house at 8:30-8:35 going from northwest to southeast. I went outside at 8:30 and sure enough there it is, a very bright white dot. The viewing lasted just over a minute as it was really going fast.

Kewl! :dance

 

[Heywood Jablomie]

I like that stuff, too. A couple of years ago we saw the ISS and the Shuttle traverse the sky as they orbited near one another - that was pretty cool, too.

 

[kiteman]

Yea, it's once in a lifetime stuff.

I saw the comet (Halley?) and the planet Mars when it was as close as it can get. Pretty amazing.

Long ago I was at a drive in sitting on top of my car and gazing into deep space. I saw something traveling in a straight line going away from me at an angle. That was a trip.

 

[Tig]

Dang, I didn't know! I always love an ISS or shuttle fly over. Amazing how fast they move (18,500 MPH) across the sky. With binoculars, you can see the solar arrays... looks like an "H" almost.

Glad you got to see it, kiteman.

 

[Heywood Jablomie]

The comet was Hale-Bopp - and that was MAJORLY kool

 

[poodlesrule]

There are a handful of sites giving sightings predictions for a given spot.
One shows objects' paths over a Google map, very busy skies! It is just amazing how much stuff is up there, like 13,000 satellites, and now some random residue from a few collisions.

I found these sites when the infamous lost toolbox was up there - I think it stayed up for a few months, at least!

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I've seen it several times I am a big NASA buff. When the ISS and the shuttle are docked and it flies over it's really bright! When NASA says it's gonna fly over at such and such a time...you can set a clock by it. The schedule is exactly right on the money it's amazing.

 

[poodlesrule]

When NASA says it's gonna fly over at such and such a time...you can set a clock by it.

Oh, interesting. Where can one find that.?

 

[kiteman]

My mistake, it's the ISS.

 

[Algonquin]

A few weeks ago while up north, we spent much of the evening justing sitting outside staring into the sky and saw many, many sattelites as they criss crossed the sky. Some appeared to be moving faster than others... could have just been orbitting at a higher altitude.

All in all, a cool night for sure! :AOK

 

[otaypanky]

A few weeks ago while up north, we spent much of the evening justing sitting outside staring into the sky and saw many, many sattelites as they criss crossed the sky. Some appeared to be moving faster than others... could have just been orbitting at a higher altitude.

All in all, a cool night for sure! :AOK

Years ago while night fishing on the French River in northern Ontario I was enjoying a different type of a Northern Lights display. Instead of the columns of light that seem to appear from the horizon, this time it was like clouds swirling around in the dome of the sky and then coming to rest for a while, each time looking like some Rorschach test. All of a sudden I thought I was seeing a UFO moving slowly across the sky!!! I told my friend about it the next day and he laughed and explained it was just a satellite ~

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Oh, interesting. Where can one find that.?

poodlesrule - go to this link...

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

Click on the country you live in then select the city. It will give you the current schedule of the flyovers which include the exact time and angle of the sighting. Like I said if it says @ 6:23pm 23 degrees above South etc. etc. that sucker will show up exactly at that time. Below is an image of what the schedule looks like.

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[poodlesrule]

poodlesrule - go to this link...

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

OK, here is one:

SATELLITE LOCAL ISS Thu Sep 30/06:08 AM
DURATION 3
MAX ELEV 53
APPROACH 16 above SW
DEPARTURE 42 above E

 

[Tone2TheBone]

The best ones are at night (obviously) and they fly over all the time so schedule a time during that monthly period to check out a nighttime flyover it's the coolest thing.