- #1
UsableThought
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Last time I looked at the stars for fun must have been when I was 6 or 7 or 8 years old - who knows. Somewhere I learned about the Big Dipper - whether from a parent or from passing through Grand Central Station - but not much more. Very recently I have realized that although I live in a rural-suburban area (lots of light pollution from a nearby small city), and so won't get particularly dark skies, there are still some enjoyable things to see. I'm at the "birding binoculars and a couple of beginner books" stage - augmented by iPad apps.
One thing I'd love to see is the Earth's shadow - and not just see it, but know what it is. Unfortunately where I am we don't have a good horizon view; however, reading about the shadow led me to reading also about visible ISS passes. The iPad apps and web pages make it easy to get notice of these. I had a good opportunity today with 42° max elevation just before dawn; it was a small but enjoyable thrill to see what I had read about.
What was really neat was that I saw it had a companion traveling with it, roughly 1° apart (pinkie finger width) and not nearly so bright. I looked online and this must have been the http://www.spacex.com/dragon sent up by SpaceX with supplies awhile ago; it had been detached ~45 min. earlier & moved away from the station w/ thrusters, prior to the SpaceX controllers sending it into its "de-orbit burn." Link to post on ISS blog: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/09/17/dragon-released-carrying-science-and-gear-back-to-earth/
And here's a pic of what I saw, only from the ISS point of view:
One thing I'd love to see is the Earth's shadow - and not just see it, but know what it is. Unfortunately where I am we don't have a good horizon view; however, reading about the shadow led me to reading also about visible ISS passes. The iPad apps and web pages make it easy to get notice of these. I had a good opportunity today with 42° max elevation just before dawn; it was a small but enjoyable thrill to see what I had read about.
What was really neat was that I saw it had a companion traveling with it, roughly 1° apart (pinkie finger width) and not nearly so bright. I looked online and this must have been the http://www.spacex.com/dragon sent up by SpaceX with supplies awhile ago; it had been detached ~45 min. earlier & moved away from the station w/ thrusters, prior to the SpaceX controllers sending it into its "de-orbit burn." Link to post on ISS blog: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/09/17/dragon-released-carrying-science-and-gear-back-to-earth/
And here's a pic of what I saw, only from the ISS point of view:
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