SPACE STATION

[debs]

Hiya all,

Thought I would mention that the ISS is going to be quite clear in the sky this weekend as they are replacing solar panels with brighter ones so its going to be alot more clearer in the sky.

Debs

[Cat 5]

Thanks for the info Debs, will it make any difference to the naked eye?

[picog]

Hi Debs,

It looks like it may be clear tonight, so where should I look to see the space station (I'm in Shropshire, near the Welsh border)? Will I need binoculars?

Picog

[kar999]

Pick a town nearest to you but give yourself a minute or so either side to allow for the distance you are from it.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sight...;region=England

You wont need binoculars but they will help you to perhaps see a little detail if they are a good pair.

[Beverley Lass]

Thanks Debs, I had a good view of her at 5.18pm here, low on

the horizon moving at a good pace West to East

It's back again at 6.51pm for me if still clear.

Cheers,

BL x

[debs]

Hiya again,

Sorry I should have given you more information on how to locate ISS. But the link above is good and yes you can see it with the nakes eye.

TTFN

Debs

[full_frontal_occlusion]

Thanks Debs, I had a good view of her at 5.18pm here, low on

the horizon moving at a good pace West to East

It's back again at 6.51pm for me if still clear.

Cheers,

BL x

For a more accurate estimate of timings from your location try www.heavens-above.com

I use this website and it is accurate to within seconds and gives a full sky map wih track plots for ease of location.

Best visibilty should be 12 December onwards when the ISS assembly will be one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

Just for info, the ISS is now in an orbital plane allowing the Space Shuttle mission STS-122 to rendezvous. STS-122 will deliver to the ISS, the European Space Agency built Columbus laboratory and thereby extend the scientific experimental capability and crew capacity of the station considerably.

No new solar panels will be deployed during the sts-122 mission, although an extension to the mission may allow inspection of one of the solar panel arrays suffering partial malfunction due to unexpected debris within the solar tracking mechanism.

As of tonight (1800 GMT), STS-122 is delayed at launch as a result of faulty fuel cut-off sensors or associated systems.

For a time during the journey of STS-122 to the ISS, it may be possible to see both the ISS and the shuttle on the same path a few seconds apart, as the shuttle closes the distance to the station. Ccheck www.heavens-above.com for both.

Yo can follow the launch of STS-122 and the full live coverage of the mission at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

or if you have Vista, there is a nasa tv gadget.

Cheers,

ffO.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

[debs]

Cheers for all tha info FFO,

I've just heard something on the news about the delay. I feel my post was a little bit less informaive than yours so thanks for the update.

All in all it wil be a good site to see.

TTFN

Debs

[mettalfabrik]

good link here for all things ISS

http://www.issfanclub.com/