Spaceship sightings expected for weeks

CNN ^ | July 27 2002 | Richard Stenger

[2Trievers]

The craft will make repeated passes over the United States and Canada between late July and mid-August, at times surpassing in brightness all other nocturnal objects save the moon.

What is the object? The international space station (ISS), which will offer optimal viewing conditions during the late summer season for millions of observers.

[2Trievers]

A giant space bug? No, the international space station, as seen in June from the Table Mountain Observatory in California.

[Balding_Eagle]

Interested? Then you need to know when and where to crane your neck. Three Web sites can calculate upcoming viewing opportunities in your area, just type in your zip code or city. The sites work for readers in other parts of the world as well.

They are Chris Peat's Heavens Above, Science@NASA's J-Pass and NASA's SkyWatch. The first one provides customized sky charts based on your location.

Their predictions are generally accurate to within minutes, but one should double-check closer to actual viewing times for last-minute updates.

That is because the station can go slightly up or down in its orbital path, depending on the natural decay of its orbit or periodic boosts to higher altitudes.

Why does the station vary in brightness? It depends on how much sunlight bounces off of it. The light-colored ship can reflect back up to 90 percent of the light that strikes it, according to NASA.

[2Trievers]

Thanks BE ... SUPER! &;-)

[Vinnie]

Here is the site I use to track objects. If you have't done so, try the Iridium Flares. They are facinating. http://www.heavens-above.com/

[virgil]

Thanks for the links. Very useful

[visitor]

http://www.heavens-above.com/

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JPass/

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

...rto

[Physicist]

Thanks for the ping. I saw the ISS sometime last winter, while I was walking home from the train station one evening. It flew right overhead, and I knew immediately what it was. Nothing else in the sky looks like it; it's way too bright and steady to be an airplane or commercial satellite, and way too slow to be a meteor. It will be a dramatic sight once they get it completed.

[LibKill]

Ahem. It is not a spaceship. A spaceship can move under its own power.

It is a space station.

[2Trievers]

DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER! &;-)

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the post & ping! At first, I thought this was a UFO thread, lol!

[Calvin Locke]

...trained a small telescope...my 10-inch...

10 inches small? For the average person, the best telescope is the one that is going to get the most use.

I just ordered 63mm binoculars for astronomical as well as terrestial use.

[2Trievers]

Oh, It's not? Geesh ... I better reread it! LOL &;-)

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL! Here ya go, hehehehe......

It seems unlikely that alien civilizations
will foot the $30 quadrillion dollars in
today's energy costs to visit us in person.
Contact via radio signals is more economical.
The photograph on the right is yet another UFO
hoax image.

[sleavelessinseattle]

Yeah, the Station is more of a hotel in a communist country based on the bizarre plumbing, and excessive radiation from solar flares sort of captures the Chernobyl optical flashes you get in total darkness! I can't wait for darkness!!! the sky has been clear last couple evenings but I hadn't thought of spotting ISS! what FUN!!!

[2Trievers]

You DO understand that you have to look UP to see this phenom, don't you? &;-)

[TomB]

LMAO

Don't get technical with him.

I'm sure he'll "see" it no matter where he looks.

[RightWhale]

We have never seen the ISS nor the Space Shuttle from here. Satellite dishes are aimed almost horizontal to the ground so the signal barely clears the city dump and the Alaska Range. It was kind of funny when a vendor set up a DirectTV kiosk at the local department store a few years ago. GPS works, though. If you want to download from polar satellites, this is the place, but otherwise we are relying on credible witnesses that there is a space program.

[sleavelessinseattle]

TomB...We don't know each other...but I must warn you...If you leave further hints about my antennae and third eye, My Martian superiors will mandate your liquification...Its nothing personal...The cooption of human society is just on a very tight schedule...I hope you understand...nanoo nanoo!

[facedown]

ping

[2Trievers]

This alien is untrustworthy ... in his mist form, he has no control over himself and ten times the normal PS. Duration 2D4 hours. He must take this energy from any living human by simply touching the eyes of the human. I suggest you take this ... and good luck! &;-)