Double pass by ISS and Discovery Weds. ... maybe
If the clouds would only part for a little while Wednesday evening, Marylanders would get a rare opportunity to watch as the International Space Station and the shuttle Discovery fly over Baltimore, one right after the other.
Discovery and its crew undocked today (Tuesday) from the space station, in preparation for their return to Earth Thursday evening. In the meantime, they will be flying more or less in tandem with the station.
It's not immediately clear which would pass over first. But here (below) is the information for the ISS flyby. My advice would be to step outside a few minutes earlier in case Discovery drops to a lower orbit and gets out in front of the station. Or, hang around for a few minutes afterwards and watch for Discovery to follow in the station's wake.
But the tracks should be the same. If you see both at the same time, Discovery will be the dimmer of the two. I've seen that twice. It's a kick.
Here's a photo of Tuesday night's pass, shot from Ontario, Canada, by Kevin Fetter. Discovery seems to have been out in front of the ISS.
For Baltimore Wednesday evening, the space station will rise above the western horizon at 8:05 p.m., moving swiftly toward the northeast like a bright, steady star. It will climb to about two-thirds of the way between the northwest horizon and the zenith (straight up) by 8:08 p.m., then head off toward the northeast, disappearing at about 8:12 p.m.
The Baltimore forecast, unfortunately, isn't very promising. But maybe the coastal storm will move far enough east to allow our skies to clear a bit. We have seen a few sunny breaks today.
Good luck, and come back here after the show and let others know what they missed.
(NASA Photo)
Comments
I just watched the ISS and the shuttle pass over Indiana at around 9:15 eastern time Tuesday 9-8-09....It was spectacular!!!!!
Posted by: smack | September 8, 2009 9:29 PM
Saw it this evening in Fort Worth, TX 9/8/2009 at 20:14 central time. I went out with my 3 boys to see the ISS and was shocked to see not one, but TWO craft overhead. Beautiful! Amazing!
Posted by: Rich Reinauer | September 8, 2009 9:30 PM
Beautiful sighting from Elmo Montana. I had to go online to find out what I was seeing, since I just expected the ISS. Discovery was in front. Clear sky, watched it cross about half the sky, very plain even though it was not fully dark.
Posted by: rcb | September 8, 2009 11:00 PM
Sometime between Oct. 1957 and Oct. 1960, at Westover AFB, Mass., we watched Sputnik pass overhead. It was amazing!
FR: Well, it had to be between October 1957 and January 1958, because Sputnik 1 fell from orbit that January. I remember it, too. Can't remember ever seeing it, although I do remember looking. But we did listen to its beeps on a friend's shortwave radio.
Posted by: Doris | September 9, 2009 12:23 AM
My daughter & I watched the ISS & Shuttle pass over Milwaukee, WI 9/8/9 @ 8:17pm! The local news station announced what time & where to look. We went outside a few mins earlier & didn't see anything. But @ exactly 8:17pm we saw the 2 quick moving lights fly over our house! My daughter, who is 3 1/2 yrs old, kept making wishes on them as they passed (thinking they were shooting stars/space ships). HA! A sighting I will never forget!
Posted by: Andi | September 9, 2009 12:26 PM
Just saw the ISS led by Discovery with my Grandson, wasn't expecting this pleasure-------
Posted by: Roy Killam | September 9, 2009 8:33 PM
Sorry, so excited forgot to mention our sighting of the pair here in Yarmouth N.S. Canada at 9:08 P.M.
Posted by: Roy Killam | September 9, 2009 8:36 PM
Just went outside with husband. Saw both ISS and shuttle. Truly awesome!
Posted by: Janet | September 9, 2009 10:05 PM
Another great sighting from Montana. The two were much farther apart tonight--maybe 45 degrees. We couldn't decide which was brighter so are not sure which was which. They both seemed at least as bright as Jupiter. What a treat! Kept my daughter up late for this one.
Posted by: rcb | September 9, 2009 11:21 PM
Watched them pass over Ft. Worth last night (Wed. 9/8). I had no idea what I was seeing until I asked my neighbor tonight - he knew. It was VERY cool. It looked like two bright stars moving all the way across the sky at the same rate of speed. I feel so lucky to have caught this without even knowing it was going to happen!
Posted by: John | September 10, 2009 12:18 AM
We saw them both from our terrace in ITALY last night [8pm CET]- it was an amazing show lasting more than 5 mins from horizon to horizon- SW to NE and almost overhead!! We had the tracking info for the ISS but wasn't expecting a double. The second was astoundingly bright and it was easily the best view we have ever seen!! Awesome.
Posted by: monty | September 10, 2009 4:57 PM