Posted on 03/15/2009 7:51:23 AM PDT by ETL
If you're along the east coast up to about New York City, you **MAY** be able to see the Shuttle just after takeoff tonight. From NYC it should appear about 8 degrees above the south-west horizon and be visible for around 30-90 seconds (so I'm told). Eight degrees above the horizon is **very low** in the sky, so you will need a **clear, unobstructed view of the south-west horizon** (no trees or buildings in the way --very difficult for NYC). A fist held at arm's length represents about 10 degrees of sky, so try holding your fist out at arm's length with one edge of it on the horizon and you'll get an idea of how shallow of an angle it is. A full moon is about 1/2 of a degree, so 8 degrees is about 16 full moons placed side by side (not as wide as it sounds).
The Shuttle should become visible as a tiny, yellowish-white (flickering?) light from NYC about 7-10 minutes after it launches off the pad in Florida (obviously sooner than 7 minutes south of New York). Check radio and/or TV coverage to know exactly when the Shuttle actually launches. It's currently scheduled to launch from Florida at 7:43PM ET, but that can of course change.
Also, for observers all along the east coast tonight, the International Space Station (ISS) will be making a very bright overhead pass between about 8:20 to 8:27 PM ET (check the linked heavens-above.com website for precise details).
ISS appears as a *bright white steady light* (no blinking or colored lights like an airplane). It basically looks like a very bright white 'star' moving across the sky at the apparent rate of a high-flying airplane. In reality, it's traveling about 5 miles per second or 18,000 miles per hour. It goes around the Earth once every approximate 90 minutes but is usually not visible from any given location on Earth. Visible passes are relatively rare and come in strings of about 2-3 weeks at a time, most often one per night or one per early morning (pre-dawn hours).
"The highlighted circle is the region where the [International Space Station/ISS] is at least 10° above your horizon. The size of the circle depends on the height of the satellite/ISS. Solid part of orbit shows where the satellite/ISS is sunlit, and the dashed part where it is in the Earth's shadow and invisible. "
Note: the circle in this diagram is centered on my New York City location. The circle can be thought of as a dome placed over your viewing location.
For more info about visible ISS and Shuttle passes, see heavens-above.com at:
(ignore the notice "Shuttle Mission STS-119 Launch of Discovery to the ISS is postponed due to a hydrogen leak.". That is an old alert from several days ago)
http://heavens-above.com/
Note 2: on Monday and Tuesday night, the ISS and the Shuttle, as a pair, (ISS is always the brighter of the two) will make visible passes over the United States. Refer to heavens-above.com for more info. The International Space Station is denoted only as ISS on their main page. You'll have to first register at the site and provide your general location (zip code or town, etc) so that they can provide you with the right information on when and where to look. It's all absolutely free.
_____________________________________________
NASA links...
STS-119 Latest News:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
International Space Station (ISS):
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Space ping!
Thanks!
And also here: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html
Thanks! Here’s something else we need to be tracking... (the weather!)
Animated national Infrared Satellite map from the Weather Channel:
(basically shows cloud movement)
http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/satelliteusnational/index_large_animated.html
Animated national Doppler map from the Weather Channel:
(shows precipitation in various shades of green, yellow and red)
http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/dopplerradarusnational/index_large_animated.html
Excellent write up. Thanks for taking the time.
I once saw the shuttle pass after a night launch a few years ago here in Southern New England. I watched the launch on HD TV with car keys in hand, then I jumped in my car and drove to a nearby cemetery on a hill where it was nice and dark with a clear view.
I really didn’t think I would be able to see it, but looking down low, I started seeing a yellowish light moving faster than an airplane and parallel to the horizon. After a minute or so, the light went dark but then came back on, and did that on/off thing for a few minutes. Then it went dark one last time and that was it.
I remember standing there thinking, “There are people in there!” as it streaked across. Cool as hell to say the least. I’ll give it another try tonight.
p.s. Some of the space info websites say to bring binoculars, but you won’t need them. Once you spot it, you won’t be able to take your eyes off of it, and messing around with binocs will just make you miss the show.
Are those time eastern standard time or eastern daylight savings time?
....Bob
Placemarker
I know how to convert times to UTZ, what I was wondering was if the times on the chart were daylight savings times or standard time. There is an hours difference.
....Bob
It IS the Ides of March!
I was in Tampa once and saw the shuttle take off from the Cape.
In broad daylight!
From Space.com...
“Discovery is due to dock at the space station on Tuesday at 5:13 p.m. EDT (2113 GMT) and land on March 28.
SPACE.com is providing continuous coverage of STS-119 with reporter Clara Moskowitz in Cape Canaveral and senior editor Tariq Malik in New York. Click here for mission updates and SPACE.com’s live NASA TV video feed.”
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090315-sts119-launch-day2.html
EDT.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.