ISS, Tiangong, Satellites Over Puna

[TomK]

PS. Just one more object to add.

27th May: The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will make a pass that should be relatively easy to spot if the weather is good. It won't be as bright as the ISS passes and certainly not the Iridium flares, but should be bright enough to be easy to spot (it'll be brighter than most stars you can see). What really helps is it will pass extremely close to Jupiter, so just watch the planet between 19:31 and 19:32 that evening. It'll pass just north of Jupiter.

Sky track: https://goo.gl/ZSOFw5

[mermaid53]

They were correct. No satellite can do that, at least not currently - such a maneuver would require an enormous amount of energy. In addition, even if it were possible, such a maneuver would almost certainly destroy the satellite from the g-forces involved (17,000 mph in one direction takes some doing to get it doing the same the other way).

Without getting too off topic, I'd like to add that w/in less than 2 seconds of passing the 1st object, the 2nd object made the hairpin turn w/out missing a beat in speed and the whole maneuver was seamless, and w/in 2 seconds or less, was tracking directly behind the 1st object.

This occurred 10 yrs ago or so and it'd be hard to believe the military had aircraft that were capable of doing that kind of maneuver...???? I could be wrong...

[TomK]

Can't help, I'm afraid, especially with something that happened ten years ago. Modern jet fighters can carry out some incredible maneuvers these days, but I can assure you it wasn't satellites doing that, it's just beyond our capabilities for the reasons I gave above.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

As TomK noted last week, we have a highly visible pass of the ISS over Puna tonight (weather permitting):

23rd May: Very bright ISS pass.
Sky track: https://goo.gl/dLfOvI

It's very bright (-3.5) and should be visible for 6 minutes:

Time: Tue May 23 7:51 PM
Visible: 6 min
Max Height: 72°
Appears: 11° above SW
Disappears: 12° above NNE

Coming up tomorrow night, an Iridium flare. I'll post details later.

It... lends weight to Goethe's felicitous description of architecture as 'frozen music.' ... Does this, I often wonder, make music 'defrosted architecture?' Listening to Bach's Goldberg variations as I often do on walks when motorway noise and other auditory intrusions preclude the music of silence, it strikes me that it might. - Pub Walks in Underhill Country, Nat Segnit

[mermaid53]

Mahalo HOTPE! Hoping for clear skies.

[rocketman]

Just saw it, in and out of the clouds. Hawaiian Beaches.

[Loretta]

Tracked it all the way across the sky. Clear all the way and fabulous!

[Pilgrim]

Thanks for the head's up. I saw it too and it was very bright. But I started out looking in the wrong place and happened to see another light I thought was the ISS in the eastern sky about mid dome (probably not the right word but...). This one headed south just before I saw the ISS go from west to east. Just curious - any ideas about that?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

happened to see another light

Yes, that was the rocket body from a GPS satellite. It should have come into view about two minutes before the ISS. A few nights ago I happened to catch three satellites in the sky at the same time, including the newest Chinese space station, Tiangong 2.

It... lends weight to Goethe's felicitous description of architecture as 'frozen music.' ... Does this, I often wonder, make music 'defrosted architecture?' Listening to Bach's Goldberg variations as I often do on walks when motorway noise and other auditory intrusions preclude the music of silence, it strikes me that it might. - Pub Walks in Underhill Country, Nat Segnit

[Pilgrim]

Cool, thanks - that explains it! It must have been rush hour up there I guess. ;>