Last night was brilliantly clear and cold, and Darlyne and Suzy were very forgiving when I made them come out to the deck to watch for the International Space Station (ISS) pass overhead. The forgiving part was important when we didn’t see it and I realized that I had the wrong day . . .
But tonight and then Tuesday we’ll have two great chances to see it pass. The path the bright little dot takes across the sky varies, and these two passes will be high overhead and quite bright. They’re on the Tedderhaven calendar, with a link to the site I use to find them (Heavens Above). NASA also has a good ISS-sighting finder.
There’s a lunar eclipse tonight, too! Exciting times to be in a spot with low humidity and pretty dark skies.
Jenny comments:
Update? How was it??
Julie comments:
It was great! We had a tremendous view, and although there was a thin layer of clouds, we saw the ISS soar overhead for quite a long time, bright and clear. And FAST. I have to work on my chart-reading skills–I got the trajectory exactly backwards, and I’m still not sure quite why. We were out for dinner on the second night but the first one was great. Next time I’m going to remember to try your stronger binoculars; I’m pretty sure that it’s almost possible to see the shape/outline of the space station (I have in the past) but I couldn’t quite see it this time.