Thanks Al! Good pass & I took the scope out and eyeballed the ISS close-up for the first time (I've imaged it a few times before). On the rise it was very bright & irregularly-shaped but I couldn't see any detail. But wow, as it 'descended' I could see the long central spine and the solar panels on each side. Fantastic! I was viewing at 43x, just plonking the red dot of the finder ahead of the ISS's path and letting it drift (race!!) through the field.
It was a very good pass from here. It didn't seem to travel as quickly as I remembered it, but maybe that's cause the last time I viewed it I was chasing it in 20x80 binos.
I wish I'd been better prepared for it. One of these night's I want to try to capture it through the 16" lightbridge.
Al There is a better one tomorrow night 19:28 Queensland Time Mag -3.8
Did you ever see that Iridium Flair at 22:22 you said was due a couple of weeks ago that some program was forecasting
Cheers
Al There is a better one tomorrow night 19:28 Queensland Time Mag -3.8
Did you ever see that Iridium Flair at 22:22 you said was due a couple of weeks ago that some program was forecasting
Cheers
Was that me? I don't remember forecasting an Iridium flare...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jules76
Dammit for a minute there I thought it was going to pass in a few minutes time. But then I realised your talking 9:35pm NSW time.
Grrrrr damn Daylight savings.....
Whoops! Sorry about that Julian!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mithrandir
HeavensAbove and Calsky both list 4 ISS passes for home on Jan 18.
5h42m14s (SW to NNE) and 20h32m08s (NNW to SE) with mag about -3.6 look to be the best.
Al, you are far enough west of me that you need to get your own predictions.
Andrew
Yes. It all depends how accurate you want to be. That's why when I post the Orbitron screen dump I make sure the ground track and visibility footprint are turned on so people can judge if the pass will be any good for them.
For once this year there was some clear sky, and even in the right direction. We were able to follow it from the time it cleared the trees to the SW until it vanished behind the eastern trees.
More passes tonight - 19:50, 21:25, 23:00 (below my treeline - might work for Canberra and Melbourne)
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. That's why when I post the Orbitron screen dump I make sure the ground track and visibility footprint are turned on so people can judge if the pass will be any good for them.
