« previous next »
Pages: [1]

Author Topic: Space Shuttle & ISS  (Read 972 times)

HankB

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16,689
Space Shuttle & ISS
« on: November 20, 2008, 01:06:57 PM »
Well, last night the Space Shuttle and ISS passed almost directly overhead around 6:20 PM - it was VERY bright.

I was looking at it through my 7x50 binoculars, and didn't see any detail, of course . . . but there was a _very faint_ secondary point of light floating slightly ahead of it in orbit. Invisible to the naked eye, there's no doubt it was there when using my binoculars.

I tried looking at other objects and it was NOT a reflection in my optics - it was there.

I've seen the shuttle chasing the ISS previously and both were sufficiently bright to be seen by the naked eye; this secondary point of light was orders of magnitude dimmer than the main body.

So . . . maybe I was seeing the "lost" tool kit? Seems kind of far fetched, but is it possible?
Report to moderator   Logged
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

AZRedhawk44

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,986
Re: Space Shuttle & ISS
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2008, 01:16:58 PM »
You think you can see a tool kit 200 miles away with 7x50 binoculars?

Could that faint point of light been a satellite, orbiting either lower or higher than the ISS but in the same visual plane to you?

I've seen the ISS with my eyeballs while sitting in the desert, watched it orbit and streak across the horizon.  Basically a very bright star, moving fast.  Pretty cool.  Didn't have binoculars with me at the time though.  If two light sources like that (ISS and Shuttle) came together, I doubt I could differentiate between them with less than a telescope.

But, my stargazing experience is pretty limited.
Report to moderator   Logged
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist."
--Lysander Spooner

I reject your authoritah!

HankB

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 16,689
Re: Space Shuttle & ISS
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2008, 01:27:31 PM »
Quote from: AZRedhawk44 on November 20, 2008, 01:16:58 PM
Could that faint point of light been a satellite, orbiting either lower or higher than the ISS but in the same visual plane to you?
Wouldn't a satellite in a higher or lower orbit have been moving at a different speed?
Report to moderator   Logged
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

ilbob

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,546
    • Bob's blog
Re: Space Shuttle & ISS
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2008, 03:00:39 PM »
It was ET.
Report to moderator   Logged
bob

Disclaimers: I am not a lawyer, cop, soldier, gunsmith, politician, plumber, electrician, or a professional practitioner of many of the other things I comment on in this forum.

Brad Johnson

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 18,111
  • Witty, charming, handsome, and completely insane.
Re: Space Shuttle & ISS
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2008, 04:26:51 PM »
Quote from: ilbob on November 20, 2008, 03:00:39 PM
It was ET.

No, it was THEM!!   :O =D

Be interesting to know what it actually was.

Brad
Report to moderator   Logged
It's all about the pancakes, people.
"And he thought cops wouldn't chase... a STOLEN DONUT TRUCK???? That would be like Willie Nelson ignoring a pickup full of weed."
-HankB

BrokenPaw

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,674
  • Sedit qvi timvit ne non svccederet.
    • ShadowGrove Interpath Ministry
Re: Space Shuttle & ISS
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2008, 04:34:54 PM »
Quote from: Brad Johnson on November 20, 2008, 04:26:51 PM
No, it was THEM!!   :O =D

Be interesting to know what it actually was.

Brad

In passes over my place at 6:16 this evening, magnitude -0.8, elevation 86, so I should be able to see it barring clouds.  I'll look real close and see if there's a toolbag flying formation.  =D

-BP
Report to moderator   Logged
Seek out wisdom in books, rare manuscripts, and cryptic poems if you will, but seek it also in simple stones and fragile herbs and in the cries of wild birds. Listen to the song of the wind and the roar of water if you would discover magic, for it is here that the old secrets are still preserved.

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,844
Re: Space Shuttle & ISS
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2008, 05:29:24 PM »
It was the spy satellite looking back at you.  :)
Report to moderator   Logged
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge
Pages: [1]
« previous next »