ISS/Atlantis flyover wows many; cloudy here
Reports are coming in from observers who watched the twin flyover last night by the International Space Station and the shuttle Atlantis. Clouds associated with thunderstorms and a frontal passage spoiled the show in Baltimore - at least where I was. But lots of people around the world got a look last night as the shuttle flew in formation behind the station, and the Atlantis crew prepared for tomorrow's landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
Here is a photo one observer shot as the two spacecraft passed over his location. And here are some comments gleaned from the SeeSat satellite observers' list serve.
Hello. I captured a grainy video of this evening's pass of the Shuttle and International Space Station. You can view/download a compressed mpg of it here 22MB http://www.drdale.com/temp/shuttle1.mpg Dale Ireland - Silverdale
Very cool to see them so close together.They were very easy to find. Even my wife had no problem in locating them in the sky and she does not have any interest in astronomy or sat watching. But I did get a big wow out of as they came flying by. Regards, Thomas Dorman - Horizon City,Texas
I had about a 16 degree pass here. Very nice. Both objects were (from my location) same color and both were about the same brightness. From visual observation, I would not have been able to figure which was the ISS or STS. As a side note, my 10 y/o son is in Florida this week. I hope that he gets a chance to see the orbiter safely landing. Together, we have several hundred ISS passes under our belt and it would be a real bonus for him to see a shuttle landing. It really amazes me just how much a small hobby like this can influence a child. It doubly amazes me just how fast the kids understand it!!!! Daniel Crawford -Crystal, MN
I saw the same pass but by pure luck. Sky was almost overcast but I went outside to watch just in case. Nothing was seen. I then got back inside the house and decided after a few seconds to get out again realising I had still about 30 seconds left before shadow entry. There they appeared at about 02:36:15 UTC for about 5 or 6 seconds through a miraculous hole in the clouds. A beautiful sight with ISS having a distinctive orange color compared to the white trailing Shuttle. No reference stars were seen, so I could not tell the magnitudes. They seemed about 2 degrees apart. Daniel Deak - L'Avenir, Quebec
