living in the centre of Berlin, I find it fascinating to see how bright the Space Station-passes usually are even though there is strong light pollution above the city. It always makes me think about how the Astro-/Cosmonauts see the big citys after sunset from up there.

The third picture (sagittarius) struck me most. It is a long time since I actually saw the milky way THAT way! I mean, clearly shimmering through the darkness like a nebula.
I believe it was at an english rural camping-site when I was sixteen.

Is there a better chance to have that impression at certain longitudes and latitudes around the earth? Or is it just light-pollution and weather-conditions? Why, for example, is an image of a clear desert-sky associated best with a good SEE?

Regardless of that, it is surprising to me how much you actually CAN see with only a pair of binoculars – even if you are in the midst of a big city.

André from Berlin

I caught up with the ISS again last Caturday evening. It appeared to be a dull red as it rose, passed nearly overhead a dazzling white, and again turned a dull red before it disappeared near the tree-line. I looked over to the SW and saw the low hanging crescent Moon appearing especially large and gorgeous, reinvigorating my already abundant appreciation for astronomy and the celestial mechanics that control it all.

Had I not known what it was, I would have assumed it was a high flying plane and when it didn’t wink out as it moved to the east, I would have figured out that it must be a satellite.

A fun experience. Thanks for the inspiration.

I followed the Heavens Above link, and got the ISS data for 37, -93 (I have memorized my approximate lat/long now). I hadn’t seen it for a few years, so I thought I’d try.

My wife, daughter and I had been having a bad evening, family-wise, and things were rather tense by 8:40. I asked my wife if she wanted to see the ISS go over, and she rather reluctantly followed me out into the street.

The night was clear, but there’s an inconvenient streetlight, and trees, and I really hadn’t got the time and direction data menorized, and the daughter was on the computer, so I thought the whole thing was going to be a loss (I’d stood in the same place once, waiting for the re-entering Space Shuttle, and had missed it).

Then I saw a steady spot of light moving up exactly between two trees. I decided to run in and drag out the daughter, and we got back in plenty of time to see it still rising.

It went almost straight overhead, very bright and steady, while we talked about what we we seeing. (The kid is a real smart-ass, so it isn’t often I can tell her about anything.) I said 500 miles up and a 90-minute orbit, which both can’t be right, but it sounded impressive.

Then, just past overhead, it did exactly what I said it would, and dimmed out. But it did a spectacular color shift into red as it went, and went out like a dying spark. That was something I had never seen before.

So we went back in and went back to our different activities, but we’d had a good time and a family moment or two, and all had seen something new, thanks to me and thanks to you.

Thanks, Phil.

Thank you, man! I wanted to ask about it here today, because when I did on a local astronomy forum some time ago, I only got rolling eyes in reply. I thought it was too short to visualize on photo.
I have seen the ISS turn red before disappearing on two occasions, though a lot shorter than in your description, or can be made out from the photo. That looks like at least a couple of seconds right?
Man, am I happy, you really made my day!

The projection on the map showed that it was probably going to fly over us soon. Quickly jumped over the HSF Orbital Tracking page on NASA and confirmed that there was going to be a pass directly overhead in about a minute.

So we go out into the parking lot and scan our eyes towards where it is supposed to appear. We must have missed the first few seconds of it, but suddenly there it was, passing right overhead, brighter than anything else in the evening sky. We tracked it all the way across the sky, until it faded from our view.

The other people in the parking lot were probably wondering why there was a grown man and two kids jumping up and down in the parking lot and pointing up at the sky. All I could do was be amazed by the state of technology today. Sitting in a mall parking lot, we could find out when a satellite (which itself is another amazing piece of technology) was going to pass directly overhead.

We saw the object flying over, and I fired off the shutter on my camera. The craft went across the sky, going just under Altair, and disappeared to the east. I then closed the shutter on my camera, and looked at the image on the LCD.

The Milky Way was visible, all the stars were beautiful, but no X37B flyover! Obviously the spaceplane has a stealth mode that allows you to see it visually, but not by cameras… there’s your conspiracy theory!!!

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alnasl.html

for W Sgr

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sgr-t.html

For the handy labelled Sagittarius map via Kaler’s Stars website &

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_(constellation)

For the wikipedia page.

Nice photo of the “teapot” astetrism even if it is upside down owing to your being the other hemisphere!

Did you know the star on the tip of the teapot’s spout Al Nasl Gamma-2 Sagittarii or Al Nasl which sounds wonderfully like “the nozzle” has a Cepeheid variable partner Gamma-1 or W Sagittarii that varies between magnitudes 4.3 and 5.1 over a 7.59 day period?

Or that of the 8 main stars making up the “teapot” half of them
(Al Nasl – Gamma-2 Sagittarii, Kaus Borealis – Lambda Sgr, Hecatebolus or Tau Sgr & Kaus Media or Kaus Meridionalis – Delta Sgr) are also – like Arcturus – orange giant stars.

Of the other four, 3 of of spectral type B with Nunki (Sigma Sgr) being a B2.5 blue dwarf star, Nanto (Phi Sgr) being a B8 blue sub-giant and Kaus Australis (Epsilon – and yet being the brightest star in the constellation despite that Greek letter.) being a B9.5 blue giant. The other teapot star Ascella (Zeta Sgr) is a binary comprising an A2 white giant and an A4 paper Sirian sub-giant.

If folks wish to know which stars is which, in order running from the tip of the spout towards the handle and back again (anti-clockwise)
they are :

Al Nasl,
Kaus Media aka Kaus Meridionalis,
Kaus Borealis (tip of the lid with M28 just above it on the spout side & M24 above on the handle side)
Nanto or usually just Phi,
Nunki (top of the handle)
Hecatebolus or usually just Tau,
Ascella (Marking the handle-base join with M54, M70 & M69 running along the base of the teapot)
& finally
Kaus Australis marking the base of the spout.

NB. I only found out the proper names for Phi (Nanto) and Tau (Hecatebolus) the other day via Wikipedia.

Hope folks find that interesting / useful / enjoyable.

I’m jealous.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zamb0ni/4408804885/in/set-72157607505443083/

I’m sure you can identify the constellation it is moving through . The ISS also crossed over into the Earth’s shadow like Phil saw.

MichaelL – I did mine with a Canon 300D + kit lens at 18mm. 45s at ISO 400 (Had to turn the ISO down because I live in a horribly light polluted area).

http://halfastro.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/thanksgiving-iss-and-shuttle-pass/

But I do recall the times I could; even with the naked eye, it’s still awesome. Never saw it cross into Earth’s shadow, though.

If you’d waited another ~30 mins, you’d have seen Progress M-07M/39P fly over as well!