For the last three nights I have watched the International Space Station go overhead. I wouldn't have thought about it except that on Monday my niece emailed me a site with a graphic which showed its course. It looked to be heading straight towards my part of the world and after a quick search I discovered that Astronomy Ireland had a dedicated phone number for when it would fly over. A call indicated that would be in just over an hour at 10:55pm As the shuttle had just docked with the space station the indications were that it would be highly visible in the south of the country.
So at the appointed time I was in the back garden scanning the skies. It had only just gone dark and indeed to the west there were still remnants of daylight. The only star out was the evening star/Venus and so conditions were perfect. Bang on time the ISS appeared. I had expected a pinpoint of light but in fact it was much larger and brighter than I had expected. It was certainly larger and brighter than any aircraft I had seen flying ahead. It was also much slower than I expected and gave me enough time to call a couple of people and tell them where to look.
Tuesday night was a bit later and by this time the stars were out and in addition it was beginning to cloud over. However as I scanned the skies I caught a glimpse of it on a different trajectory than the previous day and nearly missed it. Again it was very bright and from the angle it was coming it reminded me of an old-fashioned train with its single headlight. However it soon disappeared behind a cloud.
Tonight it was much earlier at 10:04 pm and Astronomy Ireland indicated it would only be visible in a dark sky (yesterday it was supposed to be visible in daylight). For all their knowledge of the skies, they seemed to be unaware that it would still be daylight at that time and dusk had not yet even begun to gather. Nevertheless I took up my position once more and although it was still daylight I was able to see it, albeit much smaller as it made its way along the same path as Monday.
I'm feeling very chuffed about that as I usually forget about these things or else the weather is so abysmal that nothing can be see. The number of eclipses, meteor showers and other such phenomona that I have missed is beyond counting but for once I am a happy bunny [:D]
So at the appointed time I was in the back garden scanning the skies. It had only just gone dark and indeed to the west there were still remnants of daylight. The only star out was the evening star/Venus and so conditions were perfect. Bang on time the ISS appeared. I had expected a pinpoint of light but in fact it was much larger and brighter than I had expected. It was certainly larger and brighter than any aircraft I had seen flying ahead. It was also much slower than I expected and gave me enough time to call a couple of people and tell them where to look.
Tuesday night was a bit later and by this time the stars were out and in addition it was beginning to cloud over. However as I scanned the skies I caught a glimpse of it on a different trajectory than the previous day and nearly missed it. Again it was very bright and from the angle it was coming it reminded me of an old-fashioned train with its single headlight. However it soon disappeared behind a cloud.
Tonight it was much earlier at 10:04 pm and Astronomy Ireland indicated it would only be visible in a dark sky (yesterday it was supposed to be visible in daylight). For all their knowledge of the skies, they seemed to be unaware that it would still be daylight at that time and dusk had not yet even begun to gather. Nevertheless I took up my position once more and although it was still daylight I was able to see it, albeit much smaller as it made its way along the same path as Monday.
I'm feeling very chuffed about that as I usually forget about these things or else the weather is so abysmal that nothing can be see. The number of eclipses, meteor showers and other such phenomona that I have missed is beyond counting but for once I am a happy bunny [:D]
