The space station looks like an airplane or a very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesn’t have flashing lights or change direction. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical airplane (airplanes generally fly at about 600 miles per hour; the space station flies at 17,500 miles per hour).
Below is a time-lapse photo of the space station moving across the sky.
signed up to test it but going to take some interest…we do have a good Telescope as well…
the following Dragon sightings are possible from Friday Aug 27, 2021 through Saturday Sep 11, 2021
Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears Share Event
Mon Aug 30, 6:12 AM 3 min 41° 21° above W 10° above NE
Got my first reading already…thrilled at that thought…Listed as Poitiers France
ooo just seen it says 6.12 am,thought it was this evening…sure to get some more soon though…
I have spoken to them several times. And on one occasion they called a Scout Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) station which I was involved with. In general, passes give us a maximum of 10 minutes of radio time with Doppler effect changing the frequency both on approach & as it goes away. And the time we get to chat with them depends upon how high above the horizon they are.
I have always had a slightly troubling question about the ISS.
If something serious happened which threatened the integrity of the ISS, a serious form of damage that caused a rapid decompression that couldn’t be repaired for example, how long would it take to send up a number of space craft sufficient to rescue all on board?
Several years ago NASA conducted an experiment. In part, to find out if they could communicate in an extreme emergency.
They took an old Russian space suit, placed an off the shelf amateur radio handheld radio into it & connected that to a little box that would allow the handheld to send a message automatically. They then threw it out of the door. Hence the experiments name, SuitSat.
The experiment was a successful failure. The radio’s battery faded to very low energy levels very quickly due to the very cold temperatures in space. However, many of us heard it, even a day or more after it had been put into free orbit & better still, many of us heard it with very basic antennas & without shifting our receive frequency to allow for Doppler shift.
The power output was believed to have dropped to a few one thousandths of a watt, the antenna was only a few inches long & inside the space suit & the signal still made the 1200 mile journey. JUST.
I will not bore about Doppler shift. But the higher above the horizon the pass is, for us. The more Doppler shift effects the signal. I know the ISS travels at well over 17,000 mph & I would assume that SuitSat would have done the same. This means the frequency is higher than the used frequency as it approaches us & lower as it moves away.
That’s impressive. However, my concern is how quickly could a rescue mission be launched that could rescue everyone aboard the ISS at that time. I understand that routine space launches carry very limited numbers of people, though I suppose the old ‘space shuttle’ could carry quite a lot but is no longer used.
Time: Tue Aug 31 5:19 AM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 84°, Appears: 80° above WNW, Disappears: 10° above ENE
a little too early…maybe…
join up Silver Tabby it is worthwhile…
You can easily set your location and it not only gives the location of the ISS but also everything in the sky in real time and any time in the past or future.
Make the most of looking at the ISS because by the way it sounds & looks, it’s falling to bits and won’t be up there for too much longer.
But at least it outlived it’s expected lifespan I suppose which was supposedly to have been fifteen years when it was first occupied in 2000.