International Space Station Overhead tonight - twice

Tom|Nbk · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:33

One More Solo said:
It's so clear out tonight.

Yea it's an awesome night sky tonight makes me wish I had a telescope

so peaceful aswell

JIM_BOB7813 · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:34

cheets64 said:
Pollocks 4 you are lucky to see 1 in your lifetime, I have seen 2 up to date.

Not if you know when to look for them

BBC
more info

Droolinggimp · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:34

For people in Derby or that region, these are the times for tomorrow;

08 Aug (star chart)-2.3 22:08:09 10 WSW
08 Aug (star chart)-1.1 23:43:10 10 W

If your in Derby look towards the Racecourse/Morrisons direction.

andi · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:34

It's a little too easy to forget whats right above your head all the time. Really is beautiful the number of stars tonight.

Jambo · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:36

Hello,

I am oblivious to all this space stuff but I am feeling interested so can someone please enlighten me. We are looking for the space station in the sky? Can someone explain the passings and what is happening? As if you were telling a 5 year old please.

I did pop out for a look but I was ill prepared and didn't know where to look. Think my neighbour was phoning the men in white coats. (insert men in black joke here)

lemonkettaz · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:37

Sometimes i used to ride home from work and stop and look up... i love thinking about it...

amazing...space and that

smit101 · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:40

andi said:
I'm confused!

Saw something very fast, faster than the plane that went past much nearer a few minutes before, but it wasn't the bright light I was expecting

What did it look like?

A bright light moving fast across the sky,I suppose it looks like a star,I had it in view for around a minute or so.

Who knows it may have been something else but I'm hoping it was the space station,it seems to fit the descriptions of previous sightings.

Droolinggimp · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:41

Jambo said:
Hello,

I am oblivious to all this space stuff but I am feeling interested so can someone please enlighten me. We are looking for the space station in the sky? Can someone explain the passings and what is happening? As if you were telling a 5 year old please.

I did pop out for a look but I was ill prepared and didn't know where to look. Think my neighbour was phoning the men in white coats. (insert men in black joke here)

The Space station (ISS) is traveling at 1000's miles per hour in our orbit. It only take about 40mins to make a complete trip round the earth iirc, please correct me people. Tomorrw night look west towards the direction the sun has set around 10:05 pm You should see a bright white object moving quite fast coming rougthly towards you fairly high up in the sky. You woill probably mistake it for a plane and look elsewhere but be patient, it will be the ISS. It will only take a few minutes to go over head and dissapear..

One More Solo · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:44

Jambo said:
Hello,

I am oblivious to all this space stuff but I am feeling interested so can someone please enlighten me. We are looking for the space station in the sky? Can someone explain the passings and what is happening? As if you were telling a 5 year old please.

I did pop out for a look but I was ill prepared and didn't know where to look. Think my neighbour was phoning the men in white coats. (insert men in black joke here)

The space station (ISS) is in orbit around the Earth and every now and then like tonight you get a situation where the sky is clear and the Sun hits it in such a way that you can see it from the Earth with the naked eye. To see it all you need is the time it will pass and the area it's coming from (in Summer the sky is brightest in the North so left of that is West, right is East and behind you is South). Tonight it came from the West so look at the brightest sky, turn to your left and it will appear more or less dead on time (23:20 it was tonight). You really can't miss it when it's as bright as it was today, clear trail behind it too.

Droolinggimp · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:46

I didnt see any trail behind it...

I so wish I got my camera and Tscope out tonight.. damn.

cheets64 · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:47

40 mins compared to a 747 :eek:

Jambo · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:54

Thanks for the info droolinggimp and one more solo.

droolinggimp said:
The Space station (ISS) is traveling at 1000's miles per hour in our orbit.

I feel really stupid but what exactly does this mean?

Gonzo0 · 7 Aug 2007 at 23:56

I actually saw part of the ISS being built as the space center in Florida. It was part of the guided tour. I recommend that people whoa re going to Florida take a trip to the Kennedy Space Center its very fasinating

Droolinggimp · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:04

Jambo said:
Thanks for the info droolinggimp and one more solo.

I feel really stupid but what exactly does this mean?

The Earth rotates at 1000mph (give or take, this figure is from NASA website). The ISS is about 180miles above the Earths surface, not stationary like some other satellites but actually moving in and anticlockwise direction - as you look at the earth from space focusing on the UK. Not sure of the direction the earth rotates but you get the picture, the ISS is moving faster than the earth so appers to shoot across the sky really fast.

Hope that helps..

This page is a good source of information. Its from the NASA website, or one of them.

Jambo · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:08

Thanks. It's quite hard to get your head around in real terms.

Why and how is the ISS moving at this speed?

Gonzo0 · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:12

Jambo said:
Thanks. It's quite hard to get your head around in real terms.

Why and how is the ISS moving at this speed?

I think it is due to the earth and the moons gravity and the fact that there is no air resistance in space so there is no force acting against the ISS so it is kept in orbit around the earth and moving fast. If it was positioned wrong in space it would just float off.

wesley · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:17

http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html

use this url to locate the ISS, whenever it's very close to the UK,

then enter your postcode at http://maps.google.co.uk/ click satellite, zoom in to your house. above is north, 90o right is west. so look 10o above the west.

then get time/date from http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realda...ion.cgi?country=United_Kingdom&region=England

those informations above were very accurate for me tonight

JIM_BOB7813 · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:17

Gonzo0 said:
I think it is due to the earth and the moons gravity and the fact that there is no air resistance in space so there is no force acting against the ISS so it is kept in orbit around the earth and moving fast. If it was positioned wrong in space it would just float off.

It's because the ISS is orbiting the earth, just like the other satellites do. Like the moon orbits the earth, the earth and other planets in our solar system all orbit the sun.

They need to be traveling at the correct speed so they escape the pull of gravity from earth (don't crash into us), but not so fast they shoot off into space.

Droolinggimp · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:17

Jambo said:
Thanks. It's quite hard to get your head around in real terms.

Why and how is the ISS moving at this speed?

Just for the people who are having trouble understanding the whole Orbit and ISS thing. I present you this.

clicky

Easy to understand and soon you too, can launch your own rocket and float above the earth.. :cool:

Woooooosh

Jambo · 8 Aug 2007 at 00:29

droolinggimp said:
Just for the people who are having trouble understanding the whole Orbit and ISS thing. I present you this.

clicky

Easy to understand and soon you too, can launch your own rocket and float above the earth..

Woooooosh

You overestimate me.

JIM_BOB7813 said:
It's because the ISS is orbiting the earth, just like the other satellites do. Like the moon orbits the earth, the earth and other planets in our solar system all orbit the sun.

They need to be traveling at the correct speed so they escape the pull of gravity from earth (don't crash into us), but not so fast they shoot off into space.

Your first paragraph. There must be a video animation of this on the web somewhere, anyone know?

Second paragraph. How do they ensure they are travelling at the correct speed and on the correct course? Plus what are they doing in/up there?