RobGoldsmith writes with this snippet from Space Fellowship: "If you've never seen a spaceship with your own eyes, now's your chance. The International Space Station (ISS) is about to make a remarkable series of flybys over the United States. Beginning this 4th of July weekend, the station will appear once, twice, and sometimes three times a day for many days in a row. No matter where you live, you should have at least a few opportunities to see the biggest spaceship ever built."
When I first saw the picture in the article I thought someone had posted some image of a fire and was trying to pass it off as a practical joke image of the space station hitting the ground and exploding for 4th July celebrations...
Set you location in the configuration section and it will give you the time, date, altitude, and azimuth for Iridium flares. The ISS coordinates are a little more vague, but it tends to be visible a little longer.
I like this site: n2yo [n2yo.com]. You can see the current position of the ISS, or get the 5 day flyover predictions with details [n2yo.com] If you click on 'draw' it will show you a graph for each pass, with blue where the station is in the shadow and yellow where it is in the light.
Curious, why does this seem to be a US only thing? I understand the reasoning behind the date - 4th of July weekend, but I do not recall anything like this happening for any other part of the world. Surely us weird Europeans should get a chance to look at it, as well? It IS the INTERNATIONAL Space Station, after all.
The good flybys are periodic: the station needs to be in the brief region of space where it's not in the penumbra or umbra of the earth, but is visible from points on the ground that are in darkness, so the sky does not overwhelm the reflection. That happens on every or nearly every orbit. But the parts of the earth that are lucky enough to have that view varies by time of year.
Yep, us dastardly uh-mer-uh-can's have, using the power of our fourth grade math skills, manipulated the laws of orbital mechanics to give you yer-o-pee'ins the short end of the stick. U-S-A! U-S-A!
The improved viewing lasts from the middle of July, including the days leading up to the Endevour ink-up through the end of the month. RTFA.
Yes because rather than being the chance of the position of the sun, the earth, the ISS, and their orbits, it's a conspiracy by Americans.
They make sure it doesn't pass over Europe - makes for some rather hard orbital mechanics - magical ones even as it makes hard turns in its orbit to avoid a continent- but well worth it!
You can use NASA's satellite finder [nasa.gov] to view the time when it will pass over your city.
I looked it up for Mexico City and there are two great citing opportunities there, five or six minutes long. Vancouver has over a dozen, better than in my city, and Toronto has many sighting opportunities as well. Suffice it to say, the best ones will likely be from 8 to 11pm local time, and the ISS will be only available for five or six minutes at most.
The last time the ISS flew over my city, I was ready at hand with my dinky 70mm telescope, which I've had a lot of trouble being able to steady despite having it for a year. By the time I had the knobs adjusted right such that it wouldn't slide down as I put my eye to it, I had to run with my telescope after it to a better spotting place before it disappeared with the horizon. It appeared in my viewfinder as two distinct overlapping yellow blurs, but I'm sure I saw it and this time I'd like to try again with a camera.
Here [merzo.net] you have bigger ones (IIS should not count even as a spot compared with the size of i.e. ringworld). But if we put "in the real world, as far as we know", yeah, could be the biggest so far.
"the biggest non-fictional spacecraft manufactured by humans on the planet Earth within recorded history, known to the public to exist prior to the writing of this article" doesn't have quite the same ring to it...
And, of course, in the normal way of life, we are predicted to have clouds and rain for the next few days. Seems to always happen whenever there is something cool going on in the sky!
screw the fusion pistol, give me dual double barreled sawed off shotguns. tis a feature not repeated in any FPS and one I miss. The perfect short range combination.
True, but the Earth is very big and the ISS flies less than 200 miles above it; so you can only see it when it flies within a few hundred miles of straight over your head. Also, the light has to be just right. Its only visible when the sun is not shining where you are, but is shining on the station. That's why the best time to see any satellites is near dusk or dawn. The point of the article is that conditions will be just right more often than usual this month, giving us less than amateur astronomers (especially people living in cloudy areas) a better chance of seeing it.
I went to http://www.n2yo.com/ [n2yo.com] and found that it will be flying straight over my head and be very bright in a couple of days.
This is the website where you find the latest sighting opportunities for your location.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
Go to +REALTIME DATA / Sighting Opportunities then, choose your country and the rest should be self explanatory, at least for the United States which is all I have used this website for:)
Whoever moderated this offtopic, turn in your geek cards now [wikipedia.org].
On-Topic: Can we please stop calling the ISS a space ship? It has neither the power nor the structural stability to move through space effectively. It's a space station, which is what we call it when they can really only go around a planet. Thanks.
converter? You click your location in google, and it returns a table of all the next flyby times. Please and thank you.
a search function just by searching for "ISS". Of course, it's not Google maps but will give you flyby times. You should also check whether they have some software that is able to distinguish between body and subject.
Here's the link
http://www.heavens-above.com/ [heavens-above.com]
Basically you put in where you live and it tells you the times for the next few days. Plus it even generates a map of the stars at that point in time and shows where to look for the ISS.
Not the italian guy again... Hey, Gaetano, DIRECT [directlauncher.com] was NASA's idea in the first place (by about a decade and a half); See the National Launch System [astronautix.com].
None of the DIRECT engineers or face people deny this fact. Thus, the only one who is falsely claiming ownership of the concept is you!
Horrible picture in article (Score:3, Funny)
When I first saw the picture in the article I thought someone had posted some image of a fire and was trying to pass it off as a practical joke image of the space station hitting the ground and exploding for 4th July celebrations...
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I saw the title and thought of the Bungie game. I got quite excited.
Heavens Above (Score:5, Informative)
Flyby times (Score:4, Informative)
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Here's a good resource for ISS, Iridium flares, etc predictions: http://www.heavens-above.com/ [heavens-above.com]
Set you location in the configuration section and it will give you the time, date, altitude, and azimuth for Iridium flares. The ISS coordinates are a little more vague, but it tends to be visible a little longer.
Re:Flyby times (Score:5, Informative)
I like this site: n2yo [n2yo.com]. You can see the current position of the ISS, or get the 5 day flyover predictions with details [n2yo.com] If you click on 'draw' it will show you a graph for each pass, with blue where the station is in the shadow and yellow where it is in the light.
Parent
Why only the US? (Score:3, Funny)
Curious, why does this seem to be a US only thing? I understand the reasoning behind the date - 4th of July weekend, but I do not recall anything like this happening for any other part of the world. Surely us weird Europeans should get a chance to look at it, as well? It IS the INTERNATIONAL Space Station, after all.
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The good flybys are periodic: the station needs to be in the brief region of space where it's not in the penumbra or umbra of the earth, but is visible from points on the ground that are in darkness, so the sky does not overwhelm the reflection. That happens on every or nearly every orbit. But the parts of the earth that are lucky enough to have that view varies by time of year.
Re:Why only the US? (Score:5, Funny)
Yep, us dastardly uh-mer-uh-can's have, using the power of our fourth grade math skills, manipulated the laws of orbital mechanics to give you yer-o-pee'ins the short end of the stick. U-S-A! U-S-A!
The improved viewing lasts from the middle of July, including the days leading up to the Endevour ink-up through the end of the month. RTFA.
Parent
Re:Why only the US? (Score:5, Funny)
Tell you what- you bring the Eiffel Tower or the Tower of Pisa by, and I'll let you take a look at the International Space Station.
Parent
Re:Why only the US? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes because rather than being the chance of the position of the sun, the earth, the ISS, and their orbits, it's a conspiracy by Americans.
They make sure it doesn't pass over Europe - makes for some rather hard orbital mechanics - magical ones even as it makes hard turns in its orbit to avoid a continent- but well worth it!
Parent
Wolfram Alpha can help! (Score:5, Informative)
For instance:
http://www92.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=iss+rise+vancouver [wolframalpha.com] ...gives you the next ISS flyover for Vancouver, BC.
Re:Wolfram Alpha can help! (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
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When it passes overhead, be quick about it! (Score:3, Informative)
You can use NASA's satellite finder [nasa.gov] to view the time when it will pass over your city.
I looked it up for Mexico City and there are two great citing opportunities there, five or six minutes long. Vancouver has over a dozen, better than in my city, and Toronto has many sighting opportunities as well. Suffice it to say, the best ones will likely be from 8 to 11pm local time, and the ISS will be only available for five or six minutes at most.
The last time the ISS flew over my city, I was ready at hand with my dinky 70mm telescope, which I've had a lot of trouble being able to steady despite having it for a year. By the time I had the knobs adjusted right such that it wouldn't slide down as I put my eye to it, I had to run with my telescope after it to a better spotting place before it disappeared with the horizon. It appeared in my viewfinder as two distinct overlapping yellow blurs, but I'm sure I saw it and this time I'd like to try again with a camera.
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I looked it up for Mexico City and there are two great citing opportunities there...
Good luck seeing it through the smog.. I kid! I kid! I love Mexico City. The food is great. Try the pastor.
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Troll?! Do you even know what the hell pastor is? What a maroon..
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The moderation itself was a Troll. And the moderator, not having the slightest clue that I used to live in D.F., well...
And to me, it's kinda ironic because I love the place. Ah pues, ni modo...
Biggest spaceship? (Score:1, Offtopic)
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"the biggest non-fictional spacecraft manufactured by humans on the planet Earth within recorded history, known to the public to exist prior to the writing of this article" doesn't have quite the same ring to it...
bad weather (Score:2)
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screw the fusion pistol, give me dual double barreled sawed off shotguns. tis a feature not repeated in any FPS and one I miss. The perfect short range combination.
Doesn't the ISS orbit the earth every 90 mins? (Score:1, Informative)
Seems to me this would be a fairly common occurrence, as it orbits the earth many times a day, every day, all the time.
Re:Doesn't the ISS orbit the earth every 90 mins? (Score:4, Informative)
I went to http://www.n2yo.com/ [n2yo.com] and found that it will be flying straight over my head and be very bright in a couple of days.
Parent
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That's why the best time to see any satellites is near dusk or dawn.
And why it's so easy to upset a small child making a wish upon a star by telling them they're wishing on a satellite.
Anonymous Coward (Score:1, Informative)
This is the website where you find the latest sighting opportunities for your location.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
Go to +REALTIME DATA / Sighting Opportunities then, choose your country and the rest should be self explanatory, at least for the United States which is all I have used this website for :)
Marathon? (Score:3)
Hopefully the station's AI won't go rampant this time around.
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need... mod... points...
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Whew, good to know that I wasn't the only one who had this [wikipedia.org] pop into their head after reading the title.
TraxusTraxusTraxus!
Offtopic? (Score:2)
Whoever moderated this offtopic, turn in your geek cards now [wikipedia.org].
On-Topic: Can we please stop calling the ISS a space ship? It has neither the power nor the structural stability to move through space effectively. It's a space station, which is what we call it when they can really only go around a planet. Thanks.
Can a programmer please write a google map to time (Score:3, Interesting)
Others have already pointed out Wolfram Alpha has (Score:2)
converter? You click your location in google, and it returns a table of all the next flyby times. Please and thank you.
a search function just by searching for "ISS". Of course, it's not Google maps but will give you flyby times. You should also check whether they have some software that is able to distinguish between body and subject.
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heavens-above.com [heavens-above.com]
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I use heavens above to find it (Score:1)
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So what you're saying is, somewhere in the heavens, they are waiting [bungie.org]? o8-)
JUST saw it! (Score:2)
It was really bright!
Brighter that the stars.
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The sun? In the middle of the night???
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Hot...cold...hot...cold....together, I call them hold.
Re:Cool (Score:4, Insightful)
biggest spaceship ever built...
by humans.
Parent
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None of the DIRECT engineers or face people deny this fact. Thus, the only one who is falsely claiming ownership of the concept is you!