Post by Paulie pchris00 on May 24, 2012 7:26:56 GMT -6
After getting no sleep Tuesday, I slept all day Wednesday (and missed the CA star party 
). When I finally got up around 1:30 this morning, of course I went outside with telescope.
I watched a short pass of International Space Station, popping out of Earth's shadow almost due east, and less than fifteen degrees above the horizon at 2:27 AM CDST.
An hour and a half later, however, there was a six minute pass, nice and high. I followed Station with my Dob until it passed a fairly bright star. I was curious about which star it was, so I looked up to the sky. (My eyes weren't really dark adapted, so I still don't know what star Station passed). When I tried to reacquire Station, I noticed something following behind it, a satellite. Then I remembered the Space X Falcon 9 launch Tuesday. I'm fairly certain I saw the Dragon resupply capsule catching up to ISS for its Friday rendezvous and docking. I tracked the Dragon capsule for a little bit, but it was much smaller and dimmer than Station. I thought it appeared bell shaped, but the lighting and angle I was seeing it wasn't good for seeing its true shape, and I am probably imparting my own bias into the observation after the fact.
Last July, I saw space shuttle Atlantis after it undocked from Station. The Dragon capsule will be the first American ship to dock with Station since the shuttle program ended. I know we're still a long way off from sending people into space as a country again, but seeing that little dot trailing ISS has me a little more hopeful that we're going in the right direction.
www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/cargo/spacex_launch.html
). When I finally got up around 1:30 this morning, of course I went outside with telescope. I watched a short pass of International Space Station, popping out of Earth's shadow almost due east, and less than fifteen degrees above the horizon at 2:27 AM CDST.
An hour and a half later, however, there was a six minute pass, nice and high. I followed Station with my Dob until it passed a fairly bright star. I was curious about which star it was, so I looked up to the sky. (My eyes weren't really dark adapted, so I still don't know what star Station passed). When I tried to reacquire Station, I noticed something following behind it, a satellite. Then I remembered the Space X Falcon 9 launch Tuesday. I'm fairly certain I saw the Dragon resupply capsule catching up to ISS for its Friday rendezvous and docking. I tracked the Dragon capsule for a little bit, but it was much smaller and dimmer than Station. I thought it appeared bell shaped, but the lighting and angle I was seeing it wasn't good for seeing its true shape, and I am probably imparting my own bias into the observation after the fact.
Last July, I saw space shuttle Atlantis after it undocked from Station. The Dragon capsule will be the first American ship to dock with Station since the shuttle program ended. I know we're still a long way off from sending people into space as a country again, but seeing that little dot trailing ISS has me a little more hopeful that we're going in the right direction.
www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/cargo/spacex_launch.html
