ISS, Tiangong, Satellites Over Puna

[TomK]

Next decent evening opportunity to see the ISS is April 21st. Rises at 19:42 and sets a little after 19:46. It'll be much higher in the sky and about twice as bright as tonight's event and from our perspective, traveling in the opposite direction compared to tonight. Details nearer the time (assuming I or perhaps HOTPE remember!).

[TomK]

"Watched it cruise across the sky at 17,000 miles an hour here in lower HPP. Beautiful sight."

Hope you're referring to the ISS and not the speed you were driving in HPP. Distracted driving at 17,000 mph is never a good idea and doubt you had tires rated for that speed...

[Lodestone]

Per http://spaceweather.com/flybys/flybys.php?zip=96778
the ISS should be on display tonight...

ISS 06:44:41 pm SSW 06:47:53 57° -3.6 (very bright)

[TomK]

Lodestone - the sky will still be very bright then, so it'll be a tough sighting.

[Lodestone]

Ah, right you are, Tom. That dimmer switch gets sticky as summer approaches. Going to give a look anyway, as it's a rare cloudless evening in HS.

[Lodestone]

Bah, no see nothing. Mental note: take advice of professional astronomer regarding visibility of things in the sky.

[TomK]

Worth trying, Lodestone. I suspect the site you used simply checks to see if the pass occurs between sunset and sunrise and if it does, then includes it as a visible pass. Other sites, like NASA's Spot the Station and Heavens-Above include a calculation of sky brightness, and won't include a pass if the sky is still too bright (although in the latter case, you can turn that off and get all passes whether they're visible or not).

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Lodestone,
I saw it, although only caught the last 2 minutes or so, as I started watching on the horizon too far in the southwest.
It was as bright as the planet it passed near, Jupiter? Venus?

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard

[TomK]

Jupiter. You probably saw the ISS because it was heading into Earth's shadow, so the sky was darker towards the east. I doubt you would have seen it in the west.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Yes, it was much brighter in the west, which may be part of the reason I didn't see it appear on the horizon.

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard