Author Topic: SpaceX  (Read 1872 times)

Offline Britmax

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SpaceX
« on: May 30, 2020, 05:50:16 PM »
I've just seen the launch to the ISS pass to the south of me, here in Southern England. Great sight!

I'm now told it was probably the ISS itself. Still, only the second time I've seen that, so, whatever.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2020, 06:06:52 PM by Britmax »

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: SpaceX
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2020, 03:01:32 PM »
I saw the ISS last night being chased by the Dragon. It was a very cool sight.
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline smartcooky

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Re: SpaceX
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2020, 08:59:24 PM »
Use this website to find when any object will pass over your location

http://www.satflare.com/

It is seriously easy to use; just chose your satellite, locate yourself on the the map, click "Predict Passes" and viola; the  chart for the next few days gives you rise, culmination and set times, elevation, magnitude and observability.

It will even give you a sky chart to show the track of the objects and where to look - note that east and west are swapped around because the chart is supposed to be oriented over your head showing you which direction to look .


TIPS
1. You don't need to sign up, but if you do, it remembers your location from session to session so you don't have to keep inputting it.

2. To if you like to scroll webpages using the mouse wheel and you want to scroll the page up and down, position the mouse pointer outside of the centre portion of the webpage (on the page background) otherwise the roller works as a zoom for that portion of the page, e.g. maps and charts

3. To set your location, go the to world map and click on your approximate location, then zoom and click, zoom and click, zoom and click, refining your location reach time. You can get right down to your back yard.

4. If you are not familiar with magnitudes (brightness) in astronomy, I should point out that the numbers are counter-intuitive, the lower the number the brighter the object, and numbers do go negative, e.g. mag. 1 is brighter than mag. 3 and mag. -1 is brighter that mag. 1

Enjoy!
« Last Edit: May 31, 2020, 09:01:11 PM by smartcooky »
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.