BajaNomad - ISS - March 24th BCS update

ISS - March 24th BCS update

elgatoloco - 3-16-2010 at 10:31 PM

This Monday the 22nd of March the International Space Station will be flying over The Baja. Hope you have clear skies and eyes.

It will be at a magnitude of -3.4 which makes it one of the brightest things in the sky. It will be travelling at 17,500 MPH and it will be 215 miles high when it goes over your head. Today there a five humans working in the station. Two leave this Thursday aboard a Russsian vehicle and three more are going up on April 4th on STS 131.

Definition of "magnitude"

This is a measure of the brightness of a celestial object. The lower the value, the brighter the object, so magnitude -4 is brighter than magnitude 0, which is in turn brighter than magnitude +4. The scale is logarithmic, and a difference of 5 magnitudes means a brightness difference of exactly 100 times. A difference of one magnitude corresponds to a brightness difference of around 2.51 (the fifth root of 100).
The system was started by the ancient Greeks, who divided the stars into one of six magnitude groups with stars of the first magnitude being the first ones to be visible after sunset. In modern times, the scale has been extended in both directions and more strictly defined.

Examples of magnitude values for well-known objects are;

Sun -26.7 (about 400 000 times brighter than full Moon!)
Full Moon -12.7
Brightest Iridium flares -8
Venus (at brightest) -4.4
International Space Station -2
Sirius (brightest star) -1.44
Limit of human eye +6 to +7
Limit of 10x50 binoculars +9
Pluto +14
Limit of Hubble Space Telescope +30

[Edited on 3-19-2010 by elgatoloco]

[Edited on 3-23-2010 by elgatoloco]

PassGTrackLargeGraphic.jpg - 38kB

fandango - 3-16-2010 at 11:27 PM

thanks for the info.

bonanza bucko - 3-17-2010 at 05:51 AM

Maybe you can explain what time it will be in the night sky on 22 March...might be good if you didn't give us the time in a logarithmic message, however.

bkbend - 3-17-2010 at 07:21 AM

Times are in the flight path, but no TZ reference -- would guess zulu

shari - 3-17-2010 at 07:31 AM

do you think we will see it from the west coast even though the course is way over the gulf??? thanks for the heads up gato man.

bkbend - 3-17-2010 at 08:12 AM

I poked around a little and the TZ is user specified, so times are based on whatever elgatoloco used. I made a similar run (I think?) using GMT and it came out with the same path for Mar 23 02:30 GMT which would be early evening Mar 22 local time. Shari - "The highlighted circle is the region where the satellite is at least 10° above your horizon. The size of the circle depends on the height of the satellite.

Solid part of orbit shows where the satellite is sunlit, and the dashed part where it is in the Earth's shadow and invisible. "

That was from the website, but I can't figure out why it's a circle and not a path along the orbit???

shari - 3-17-2010 at 08:17 AM

thanks for that bkbend...shoulda figured out the circle bit! put it on my calendar but hope somebody reminds us that morning.

toneart - 3-17-2010 at 09:35 AM

So, can anyone venture a guess or a specific regarding TZ in Baja Sur? If it passes through California during Daylight Savings time, it would be MST in Mulege. To further complicate it, Baja Sur hasn't gone to Daylight Savings yet. Does that make the times on the graph accurate? :?:

elgatoloco - 3-17-2010 at 10:19 AM

The circle is centered over my house in San Diego and not just because I think the world revolves around me. :smug:

ISS will be visible over the horizon at my house at 7:31 PM. Sunset is at 7:00 PM on the 22nd. Civil twilight coming at 7:25 PM. If you are anywhere in the circle you will see the station because it will be 215 miles up in the sky reflecting the sun. The view will just be at a different angle and a slightly different duration. The nice thing about this pass is that it is almost 90 degress up which makes it easier to see and a longer viewing.

Shari - do what I do. Print out the graphic and post it on your bulletin board at home and pass out copies to all the school kids then set the alarm on your iPhone and then get all the neighbors over to your house with promises of cold beverages and show them something they may have never seen before. The ISS I mean. :dudette:

When you see Zac ask him about our trip to PSR last spring, we saw virtually the exact same flight path. It was funny because I had checked it out prior to heading down then it had slipped my mind. When I remembered I made a comment that we missed it only to look up right at the moment and see it pop over the horizon. Only regret was that Pancho was late for dinner and missed it. Next time.

Toneart and everyone else - I HIGHLY recommend that you do what I do and go to:

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

You can sign up and put in your own location and find out how to see all kinds of stuff. I like to wow my friends with the names of the different sateliites as they pass overhead and the occasional Iridium flare sighting. You guys are lucky that you have the best viewing ops. We have a harder time up here with all the manmade light getting in the way but the ISS is easy to see and it won't be forever. I fondly recall as a kid growing up laying on the roof, where I slept for 15+ years, of my families house in Baja and falling asleep while watching satellites and shooting stars and learning the constellations.

Have fun.

Toneart -- yes

bkbend - 3-17-2010 at 07:15 PM

I think your assumption is accurate.

elgatoloco - 3-21-2010 at 06:03 PM

:dudette:

shari - 3-22-2010 at 08:06 AM

thanks gato...definately a good reason for a party...so we will all be outside around the BBQ...nancy playing her accordian...deminimis passing out the cerveza...laurieboats doing the watusi...you know the drill....shot of tequilla for the first person to spot it!!!

[Edited on 3-22-2010 by shari]

Bajahowodd - 3-22-2010 at 12:42 PM

So, if I'm making sense from this, millions of folks from the central California coast on down through much of Baja will have an opportunity. Hopefully, there won't be any cloud cover. Reminds me also, that it look like everyone is soon going to have to rely on the Russians when dealing with the ISS for quite some time to come.

BajaBlanca - 3-22-2010 at 01:45 PM

thanks ElGatoLoco .... something to look forward to tonite !! As good an excuse as any for a partyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

oladulce - 3-22-2010 at 05:29 PM

Dang, the sky has been crystal clear for days but today is solid thin high cloud cover. Hope it's clear enough to see. thanks for the tip Gato.

Debra - 3-22-2010 at 06:16 PM

If anyone can get some pics. please post............it's not happening in Seattle!

David K - 3-22-2010 at 07:24 PM

Debra... You have seen satellites overhead while in Baja, yes? Well... this is just a bit brighter... In about 10 minutes... but there are some clouds above now!

David K - 3-22-2010 at 07:37 PM

Okay, the clouds co-operated... went straight overhead... very bright... nice!

Russ - 3-22-2010 at 07:38 PM

Cool !! I saw it this time.

David K - 3-22-2010 at 07:39 PM

Too bad it takes me so much longer to get to Punta Chivato than the space station!

akbear - 3-22-2010 at 07:39 PM

Neat. I just saw it fade out right overhead here in Los Barriles !!

bkbend - 3-22-2010 at 07:41 PM

Yes, lots of clouds today in Mulege but they parted quite nicely for the show. Brighter than I expected...

tripledigitken - 3-22-2010 at 07:41 PM

Elgato,

Thanks for the heads up. I was all set to take a picture, but the clouds wouldn't cooperate.

Ken

ISS San Felipe

akshadow - 3-22-2010 at 07:43 PM

Cloudy in San Felipe but just lucky enough to just see it go overhead.
nice to see saw it last fall too on a clear night

Quote:

Originally posted by oladulce
Dang, the sky has been crystal clear for days but today is solid thin high cloud cover. Hope it's clear enough to see. thanks for the tip Gato.

akbear - 3-23-2010 at 10:52 AM

You have another shot at seeing it tomorrow, Wed. march 24 at 6:40 pm. B.C.S. time. Almost the same path, my be a little more over head. Go to: http://www.heavens-above.com

elgatoloco - 3-23-2010 at 12:13 PM

What time is sunset in B.C.S? Some passes are visible some are not. Depends where the sun is.

We spent the day out in Anza-Borrego and got home just in time to see the sky covered by clouds. No ISS, this time.

elgatoloco - 3-23-2010 at 12:49 PM

Wednesday the 24th B.C.S. time 6:48 PM. :dudette:

BajaBlanca - 3-23-2010 at 02:28 PM

Here in La Bocana, we couldn't see it yessterday, extremely cooudy conditions ... will try again tonite altho Les thinks it will be too light still ....