Heads up: HST passing in front of Moon!

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Hi Brisbane imagers,

According to Heavens Above, the mag 1.6 Hubble Space Telescope will be passing in front of the Moon (just before 1st qtr) at 6:11 pm this Friday 8th August. It sounds like a cool imaging opportunity!

I'll probably be tied up at a work-related dinner and so will miss it, but hopefully someone will be able to post an image or 2...

Good luck,

Cheers,
Stephen

[Chrissyo (Chris)]

Acck, I don't get home from uni until about 7pm and it's a practical session so I can't skip it.

Thanks for the heads up though.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

thanks Steve. Fingers crossed I'll be there.

[Dennis]

Thanks for the notification and details Stephen; this should be a great opportunity as the Moon will be around 74 degrees above the horizon.

I'll try to get some pics if I've unpacked all my gear by then (from Qld Astrofest) and had sufficient family time so I can sneak out without getting shot!

Cheers

Dennis

[AlexN]

i'll take my camera to work with a tripod and go a wide field. Cheers for the pre warning.

[Dennis]

Hi Stephen

I’ve just looked at Heavens Above (for my 1st time) and if I am working the site correctly, it shows the HST as passing N of the Moon, missing the disc, so it appears that the 8th Aug event for Brisbane will be a near miss rather than a pass in front of the disc?

Cheers

Dennis

[prova]

Originally Posted by StephenM

Hi Brisbane imagers,

According to Heavens Above, the mag 1.6 Hubble Space Telescope will be passing in front of the Moon (just before 1st qtr) at 6:11 pm this Friday 8th August. It sounds like a cool imaging opportunity!

I'll probably be tied up at a work-related dinner and so will miss it, but hopefully someone will be able to post an image or 2...

Good luck,

Cheers,
Stephen

How about us in Canberra!

[Matty P (Matt)]

What a great opportunity for observing or even imaging.

It is too bad we don't get the HST Moon transit down here in Canberra.

Looking forward to seeing some images.

Good luck.

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by Dennis

Hi Stephen

I’ve just looked at Heavens Above (for my 1st time) and if I am working the site correctly, it shows the HST as passing N of the Moon, missing the disc, so it appears that the 8th Aug event for Brisbane will be a near miss rather than a pass in front of the disc?

Cheers

Dennis

Originally Posted by prova

How about us in Canberra!

Guys,

by my calcs the width of the transit ground track is only 3.5kms (assuming the ISS is 400ks high - I haven't checked it's current altitude).

400sin(0.5°) = 3.5 (yeah, yeah I know it isn't the same as 2*400tan(0.5°/2) but it's close enough for small angles!)

So while it might be a transit for part of Brissy, it will be a near miss for most of it... and probably not even close for Canberra!

Al.

[citivolus (Ric)]

Wellington Point should get a pass, albeit for less than 1 second.

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDet....9343625126301

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Lets see if heavens above or ISS members calculates it better cant wait to hear a report.....cheers Kev.

[Dennis]

Hmm, I still get a near miss using a more accurate Lat Long and Elev from Google Earth.

Oh well, it will still be worth a look.

Cheers

Dennis

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by citivolus

Wellington Point should get a pass, albeit for less than 1 second.

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDet....9343625126301

Do it, Ric! You know you want to!

Al.

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by Dennis

Hmm, I still get a near miss using a more accurate Lat Long and Elev from Google Earth.

Oh well, it will still be worth a look.

Cheers

Dennis

I'm estimating that just 6kms at 165° from your place is the place to be then Dennis! Mind you, a close visible pass is quite an opportunity itself, but catching the HST passing in front of the moon would be better...

Al.

[citivolus (Ric)]

Now the tricky bit would be to position yourself so that it passed not only in front of the moon, but in front of the illuminated portion

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Hi all,

OK, it looks like a near miss for most parts of Brisbane, but still worth a look! Dennis, it looks like I made the mistake of not zooming in enough on the Heavens Above map! Wellington Pt sounds good though. Note that it also passes very close to Jupiter shortly after the Moon, which might be another good photo opp. If I get the chance, I might use the binoculars to observe the moon pass, then try and get a shot of Jupiter and the HST.

Good luck with the observations!

Cheers,
Stephen

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by sheeny

I'm estimating that just 6kms at 165° from your place is the place to be then Dennis! Mind you, a close visible pass is quite an opportunity itself, but catching the HST passing in front of the moon would be better...
Al.

Hey Al

Thanks for the maths, but, 165° puts me somewhere between New Caledonia and NZ! Was that a typo?

Cheers

Dennis

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by Dennis

Hey Al

Thanks for the maths, but, 165° puts me somewhere between New Caledonia and NZ! Was that a typo?

Cheers

Dennis

Whoa! No need to swim that far!

The 165° is a bearing measured clockwise from true north... the distance was only 6ks.

I've since realised that my rough maths really only applies if the pass was directly overhead, otherwise the distance would have to be divided by the cosine of the altitude at closest approach...

Al.

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by sheeny

Whoa! No need to swim that far!
>snip
Al.

Ahh, thanks Al, you're speaking with the mathematically challenged here!

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by StephenM

Dennis, it looks like I made the mistake of not zooming in enough on the Heavens Above map!
>snip
Good luck with the observations!
Cheers,
Stephen

Yup – me too when I first looked at the website with the Lat & Long of Brissie. It wasn’t until I generated the more detailed chart that the “near miss” became clear.

I guess on the small map, they need to enlarge the Moon to make it visible as a symbol. However, your post did get me to Heavens Above, so thanks!

Cheers

Dennis