ISS, Tiangong, Satellites Over Puna

[TomK]

Unfortunately, it was as I expected - washed out by rain and clouds. Did anyone get a chance to see it?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

You can now subscribe to the New York Times Calender of Astronomical Events. They'll notify you about upcoming meteor showers, rocket launches, and general space related items of interest. I'm not sure if you need a subscription, but some of their other webpages like the TV review guide "Watching" only require that you sign up.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017....html?_r=0

The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?

[TomK]

I don't have a NY Times subscription and just signed up for this using my personal Gmail account. I'm curious to see how useful this will be so thought I'd give it a try.

[TomK]

There will be an extremely bright Iridium flare visible from Lower Puna on the evening of Friday 15th September at 19:25:44 - weather permitting. It will appear almost directly north at an elevation of 38 degrees above the horizon. It's not going to occur near any bright star, but if you can locate the Pole star (North star) which will be quite low in the sky, the flare will appear a little higher in the sky.

Sky track: https://goo.gl/M6hVxP

Ground track of the flare center: https://goo.gl/5x22X7

[TomK]

Quick bump for anyone interested.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Thanks for the reminder Tom.
Beautiful clear sky tonight -- I think that was the brightest one yet.

The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?

[mermaid53]

Yes very bright! Almost missed it by 2 minutes as we had almost forgotten. The clouds came in shortly after.

Thanks Tom []

[TomK]

Yes, sorry for the late reminder, but I'd only just got home!

[mermaid53]

Hi Tom, the "almost missed it by 2 min" was due to fault of my own doing. You gave ample notice and I had the time written down since seeing your post yesterday. I'm glad we remembered just in the nick of time!

[TomK]

Incidentally, I tried using the ISS detector app I mentioned a little earlier in this thread. I was quite impressed! It lists all sorts of events, including Iridium flares, and if you tap on the flare in the list it can display a "radar" screen, complete with a countdown, that allows you to look in exactly the right direction. For a couple of bucks, you can also add a whole bunch of satellites as well. I'd definitely recommend it.