Posted on 03/15/2008 9:34:55 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The space shuttle Endeavour and the international space station will be visible to Antelope Valley residents early each morning for more than a week beginning Sunday. The Endeavour mission, to deliver the first component of a Japanese science laboratory and a Canadian robotic system to the station, is scheduled to end with a landing at 5:33 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, in Florida.
The shuttle-space station combination will look like a very bright star moving steadily as they arc through the sky.
If no variations are made to the flight plan, the only evening sighting of the shuttle and space station will be Monday, March 24. The first opportunity to see the craft will come an hour after the initial separation of Endeavour from the station for the trip home. The vehicles will appear as separate objects moving in the same direction. A second, brief, opportunity will be roughly 90 minutes later.
Sighting times in the Antelope Valley, and the crafts' height above the horizon in degrees, are:
Sunday: Appears at 6:42 a.m. in the north at 10 degrees; disappears at 6:45 a.m. in the east-northeast at 10 degrees, with a maximum height of 14 degrees.
Tuesday: First seen at 5:51 a.m. in the north at 10 degrees, disappears at 5:54 a.m. in the east-northeast, with a maximum height of 14 degrees.
Thursday: Appears at 6:12 a.m. in the north-northwest at 10 degrees, disappears at 6:18 a.m. in the east-southeast, with a maximum height in the northeast at 36 degrees.
Thursday: Appears at 5:01 a.m. in north-northeast at 12 degrees, disappears at 5:03 a.m. in the east-northeast at 10 degrees, with a maximum height of 13 degrees, followed at 6:34 a.m. in west-northwest at 10 degrees, disappearing at 6:40 in south-southeast at 10 degrees, with a maximum height of 50 degrees.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
And Dextre. Don’t forget Dextre is powered up and ready to work tirelessly and without air or water 24/7 from now on.
I have seen the ISS before. Very worthwhile effort too give it a peek. Telescope is good / best yet a pair of binoculars worked just as well ....... that was a few years ago.
ISS is bigger now with Hope, and Hope has two more pieces to be delivered later.
Thanks!
I caught the pair (shuttle and ISS) 2-3 weeks ago. Pretty cool, they were a couple minutes apart but in the visible arc at the same time. I have some really fine binoculars and with the ISS I could barely discern an odd shape behind the sparkle, but it’s still cool.
I wonder if any of the computer-controlled consumer telescopes are fast enough and precise enough to track them across the sky?
MM (in TX)
Last year they came overhead 1 hour after separation. That was twice as cool.
Neat stuff........anywhere we can review what the ISS has done for research etc ?
Very cool and beautiful sight to see here in Michigan.
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