Can the Space Station Be Seen?

[Classic Finn]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know if the International Space Station can be seen by telescope and if so what are the coordinates?

My son was questioning this earlier..

Also we,d like to know if it can be spotted in our loacation?

Classic Finn

[Eddielbs]

You may find out here! http://www.heavens-above.com/

[MrgrumpyNJ]

Or here

http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

On a nice clear night you can see it track across the sky.

Don

[Greg M]

Hey Finn.

Check out Orbitron. It's a Ham Radio software for satellite tracking and includes the ISS.

-Greg

[emiller]

If it's going as fast as a satelite, it will be too fast for a telescope.

[the dog]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know if the International Space Station can be seen by telescope and if so what are the coordinates?

My son was questioning this earlier..

Also we,d like to know if it can be spotted in our loacation?

Classic Finn

Not sure but one civilian didn't need a scope, he was a paying passenger and only cost him $25mil. There is also a large ham station on Mir. Many have made contact with the astronauts. I believe about 300 school kids also talked to them with hamers assistance. Dog

[Alphacarina]

It can be seen easily with the naked eye - If you know when and where to look. It can be seen from anywhere on earth, but only when it's flying over your particular area. A transit across the sky only takes 3 to 6 minutes or so, depending on it's elevation

Our local TV weatherman alerts us when to watch and where to look when it's visible here - After dark when the station is lit up by the sun, as the moon is. I guess we see it every month or so. Because we are so close to Florida, he also tells us when to watch to see the shuttle coming down to land

The first time I saw it, the shuttle was also visible and was about a fists width ahead of the station. Last week, before the latest shuttle landed, we saw the station, the shuttle and the new unmanned European supply ship all in near proximity to one another - Quite a sight

The orbiting station is now 70% complete BTW - Weighs about 600,000 pounds as of now. Will be nearly a million pounds when it's all done!

Don

[Geron]

The orbiting station is now 70% complete BTW - Weighs about 600,000 pounds as of now. Will be nearly a million pounds when it's all done!

Don

If/when it burns and crashes, hope I'm a safe distance away

You suppose it will????

gac

[M B Hamilton]

What Alphacarins said, if you know where to look.

Here is a recent (about 9 months old) picture taken by a bunch of H.S. students in Boston. They used a 25" telescope with an attached video camera, and computer based tracking (plus a bit of mirror bending, whatever that is). The image was taken as a shuttle was in the process of docking.




Mark

[Alphacarina]

If/when it burns and crashes, hope I'm a safe distance away

You suppose it will????

Naw - They keep adjusting it's orbit, as necessary

The shuttle can of course move the space station's orbit, but now so can the unmanned cargo ships which make regular deliveries. They can keep it up there for a thousand years, if they want to

Due to the enormous size of it, I would imagine when they're done with it they will just attach a rocket to it and send it off into outer space

Don

[mikeschn]

Heiki,

Did you ever consider binoculars?

Mike...

[Smitty Smith]

If it's going as fast as a satelite, it will be too fast for a telescope.

With a Dobsonian telescope you can track all the "stuff" up there, except meteors. A few years ago a group of us viewed the Mir space station with a space shuttle docked with 6 of our scopes as it passed overhead. (BTW - They de-orbited the Mir a while back over the Pacific, they'll probably do the same with the Intl. Space Station when it's end comes too.)

I regularly view man-made satellites, the ISS, and the Hubble Space Telescope when they pass over with my scopes. You won't see much shape or detail on any of these objects except Mir (now gone), the ISS, and the Shuttles - everything else just isn't big enough, even Hubble. They just look like points of light.

To see any shape or detail on the ISS or Shuttle you really need about 40 to 50x which counts common binoculars out.

A strange sight to see in binoculars or telescope are the N.O.S.S. satellites. 3 points of light (3 satellites) all flying over in a triangle formation together, they orbit the Earth in formation. Usually when folks see these for the first time they think they've seen a UFO.

[Alphacarina]

If it's going as fast as a satelite, it will be too fast for a telescope.

Speed is all relative, at least when it comes to satellites

The ISS orbits at about 17,000 miles an hour and 15+ orbits per day but the fastest satellites up there are flying at 22,000 miles per hour in a geosynchronous orbit and when viewed from the ground, they don't appear to move at all. Our moon flies at about 2350 MPH, but it's so slow, the earth rotates about 28 times before the moon makes a complete orbit, so most of the 'motion' we perceive from earth is actually the earth revolving . . . . not the moon moving

Don

[emiller]

Well I have a tracking telescope but it's not that fast. It will track the Moon and Planets. Satelites move across the sky too fast within a few secounds to a minute. That's alot faster than a planet or moon.

[Classic Finn]

Heiki,

Did you ever consider binoculars?

Mike...

Ive got a small set but that was for onboard ship, not anything real good..


Wow you folks have made this a real interesting thread.. thanks everyone.

What we,d like to know is whats a decent telescope to buy ..and while looking at them what exactly should I look for as far as features or things? Looks like our family has found an interesting hobby.. to have in excess to teardrops..

But ok another family event.. gazing at the stars and ...

Classic Finn