SN Software to the Rescue

[Shark Bait]

My boy is a big fan of the ISS and likes to get outside and watch when it passes overhead. Last night we had a pass just before 7:30pm (local QLD time), with the HST in the same part of the sky. He tried to track them using handheld 7x50 binos but had trouble getting the target within the FOV. I had a quick look and even at a humble 7x magnification the ISS gave up a hint as to its shape.

I ended up using Starry Night V6.4.3 Enthusiast to help explain why they disappeared before they reached the horizon and why they don't crash into one another.

I wish planetarium software like this existed when I was his age. Nothing beats a visual display to help explain what is happening. Some SN stills of last nights pass are attached.

[gary]

Hi Stu!

And the hardware to run them on. :)

Consider that in 1976, a 64-bit Cray 1 supercomputer had a 80MHz clock cycle which
was good for 160 MIPS and the vector floating point unit around 160 MFLOPS peak.

It weighed 5.5 tons and consumed 115kW of power and if you ordered it with the
8 megabyte main memory, would set you back about USD8.8 million.

If it had been installed at home, at least the power supplies doubled as seating for guests.
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/08/scray.jpg

Consider by comparison today a modest graphics card like a NVIDIA GeForce
GTX 770. It alone has a 1058 MHz clock, is good for 3.2 TFLOPS (i.e. 3.2 million MFLOPS),
consumes 230W and sells for less than $500.

[Shark Bait]

Very true Gary. Great photo! That suit would have been the height of fashion way back when. :D

When typing the original message, I didn't even pause to consider the advances in technology that have made all this possible.

This book was my first memory of being given some answers to the questions that I must have been asking my Father. Published 1979....now I am starting to feel old.

[gary]

Hi Stu,

Love the picture of the book from your younger days and it is amazing how the
humblest of books can inspire us when we are young.

The guy is the groovy suit is none other than the late, great Seymour Cray himself.

Tragically he died in 1996 after sustaining injuries from an accident where another
car collided with his, but he was the archetypal computer genius, a legend in his
own time and still a legendary figure in the history of computing today. During his
life, he designed and built the world's fastest computers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PvfbbaiDdc&list=PLAmtnLxjWJWTsypqo9N5WsR20sEv7 wjU0&index=1

There are many anecdotes about him, many true but some apocryphal.

However, he plays a pivotal role in US power during the Cold War. When the
nuclear test ban treaty is in place, the US is seen to have an enormous strategic
advantage over the Soviets because simulations run on supercomputers become
a substitute for weapons testing.

Cray was a very private individual and rarely spoke in public, but he had a wonderful
sense of wit and humor. In this video here which features Cray speaking at the
University of California Berkeley in 1976, he gives a wonderful short anecdote (starting at
0:02:05) about a delegation from Russian visiting the Cray facility in Wisconsin who invite him
to come to visit Moscow. :lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtOA1vuoDgQ

[BakerStreet]

I was setting up just after sunset while I still had enough light to align the EQ mount. I slipped in a 35mm eyepiece and removed the dust cap to look for a star to check the alignment. Two huge squares crossed the field of view and I damn near did my pants in:eyepop:. I thought that the aliens had finally arrived.:rofl:

A couple of seconds to clear the head, dive to the laptop and a quick check on Heavens-Above and my suspicions were confirmed. I had accidentally managed to view the ISS through my scope. Couldn't do it if I tried. Amazing to think that I can now check what is happening in the sky in seconds instead of guessing, like when I was a kid in the country in the 1980's.

[Dennis]

Hi Stuart

A nice write up – Starry Night Pro also gifted me a view of this event and I managed to just squeeze Uranus into the FOV as well!

Have a look here for the results.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=113974

Cheers

Dennis

[Shark Bait]

Quote - The guy is the groovy suit is none other than the late, great Seymour Cray himself. Gary - Quote

I just watched the first video. The 'Cray 1' was released in 1975, I was almost 3 years old. Thanks for the video links. I will watch the second when I have a little more time.

Quote - I had accidentally managed to view the ISS through my scope. Couldn't do it if I tried. Amazing to think that I can now check what is happening in the sky in seconds instead of guessing, like when I was a kid in the country in the 1980's. BakerStreet - Quote

Visually tracking the ISS through my telescope is tricky. I have managed to do it with my 12" goto Dob when it was hooked up to my laptop (loaded with some free satellite tracking software). The scope would 'leapfrog' and pause ahead of the ISS's predicted path while I waited at the eyepiece to see it tear through the FOV. I have just reloaded the software and am keen to try it again.

[Shark Bait]

Thanks for the comments and the link Dennis, I will check it out.