Comments on: Reflecting on the ISS

By: ISS and Milky Way with 3 cameras

ISS and Milky Way with 3 cameras — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:14:02 +0000

[...] The timelapse above is slowed down when the ISS passes. Phil Plait also has an interesting article on it here. The first camera was setup on a small lake with calm [...]

By: Brian Fies

Brian Fies — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:16:32 +0000

Although I’ve gone out of my way to watch a few ISS passes, it was a bit more exciting to “discover” it last night by accident, when an after-dinner walk luckily coincided with a beautiful overhead pass at magnitude -3. I stood there delighted and mouth agape, then ran home to confirm my catch on Heavens Above. There really is nothing else in the sky that looks like it. Very cool.

Reminded me a bit of when I was a teenager and stumbled upon a partial lunar eclipse I hadn’t heard about in advance. I just saw a crescent Moon rising in the East one evening, thought “wait a second,” and got a little shiver down my spine…

By: Arik Rice

Arik Rice — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:56:29 +0000

@3. The brightness of the ISS varies since its quite a bit farther away when its on the horizon than when its straight overhead, but it can actually get brighter than Sirius. I live in a relatively brightly lit suburb and I’ve seen the ISS numerous times. The rocket booster, however, was probably down near magnitude 4 or 5 level, barely visible to the naked eye.

By: Butch70

Butch70 — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:27:27 +0000

Astronomy is a fastinang subject. You bet.

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:35:38 +0000

Wow! Superluminous (Beyond just brilliant) astrophoto.

Love the reflected starlight – and “brick moon” light – effect.

Thanks Randy Halverson & BA for this.

@4. S.J. Esposito : “Seeing a man-made satellite near a giant galaxy really puts things in perspective.”

That’s not just *a* giant galaxy, that’s *our* (actually large~ish but not so much “giant”) Milky Way Galaxy! But then you knew that already, right?

You’re spot on about astronomy putting things into perspective there.

By: Calvin

Calvin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:33:39 +0000

Yes, the Moon and Jupiter have been putting on quite a show between 6 and 7:15 AM MDT the last week or so.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:20:02 +0000

Sometimes I just lay down on the hood of the car, let my eyes adjust to the dark and on a good night you can see probably half a dozen to a dozen satellites pass over every hour. Best times are a few hours after sunset. It’s amazing how much stuff we put up there.

By: John Sandlin

John Sandlin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:34:01 +0000

@D HUNT #5, I really had trouble with it at 100% size too. I had to ramp it up to over 150% size to see the streak. Once seen you can imagine you can still see it back down to 100%. I think my eyes are just getting old.

jbs

By: hale-bopp

hale-bopp — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:55:26 +0000

I take satellite trail photos of the ISS as well sometimes. Satellites are so common, I have frequently seen other satellites in the same field of view.

Now I want to get one reflecting off the water! Living in Tucson, will have to do that when I travel sometime. Not many lakes around here.

By: Graham Molyneux

Graham Molyneux — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:18:46 +0000

Hi Neil #3
Yes, the ISS is easily visible with the naked eye; given the right conditions.
Clear skies, obviously. It also needs to be dark but with the ISS still being illuminated by the sun, so just after sunset or just before sunrise satisfy those conditions.
With the naked eye it could be mistaken for an airliner but decent binoculars will show the structure of the station and its solar panels.
There are a number of web-sites which give forecasts of “flybyes”.
Graham

By: D Hunt

D Hunt — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:17:11 +0000

@Neil
You can definitely see the ISS, it’s one of the brightest things in the sky after the sun and moon.

@Phill
You must have cybernetic eyes to have spotted that faint streak. I had to zoom way in on the embiggenned image and refer to your enhanced image before I could spot it.

By: S.J. Esposito

S.J. Esposito — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:13:49 +0000

Beautiful shot. Every time I see something like this, I can’t help but marvel at the fact that we put things in space. Seeing a man-made satellite near a giant galaxy really puts things in perspective.

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:50:48 +0000

What was the apparent magnitude of ISS , can we see in naked eye ?

By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:40:50 +0000

Compare the lengths of the streaks. The booster is really hauling, ah, mass.

By: Bill B

Bill B — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:41:52 +0000

Randy,

Heavens-Above is a great site not only for identification of things seen but also of coming events. For example, checking the Iridium flare 7 day forecast, I found out that there were going to be two flares, a -6 and -8 magnitude from one of my regular viewing sites. Not only that, but they were within a degree of each other and no more than 45 seconds apart. A good chance for a long term exposure capturing two flares in one shot. With that long an exposure I’d likely have some nice star trails as well.

That night it rained.

That’s Mother Nature for you.