A feast of ISS passes
We’ve recently been treated to some bright passes of the International Space Station and it looks as though there are more to come (weather permitting) over the next week or so. The following table (edited from http://www.heavens-above.com ) shows the times of the brightest passes. Times/directions will vary depending on where you are but should be fairly accurate for anyone in the Midlands:
| Date | Mag | Starts | Max. altitude | Ends | ||||||
| Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 17 Jun | -3.6 | 23:16:59 | 10 | W | 23:20:11 | 76 | SSE | 23:23:17 | 10 | E |
| 18 Jun | -3.4 | 22:15:23 | 10 | WSW | 22:18:29 | 60 | SSE | 22:21:36 | 10 | E |
| 18 Jun | -3.6 | 23:51:06 | 10 | W | 23:54:15 | 78 | S | 23:57:25 | 10 | E |
| 19 Jun | -3.5 | 22:49:28 | 10 | W | 22:52:36 | 80 | S | 22:55:45 | 10 | E |
| 20 Jun | -3.4 | 21:47:51 | 10 | WSW | 21:50:59 | 70 | SSE | 21:54:07 | 10 | E |
| 20 Jun | -3.5 | 23:23:37 | 10 | W | 23:26:45 | 71 | S | 23:29:54 | 10 | ESE |
| 21 Jun | -3.5 | 22:22:01 | 10 | W | 22:25:09 | 80 | S | 22:28:18 | 10 | E |
| 21 Jun | -3 | 23:57:51 | 10 | W | 00:00:52 | 43 | SSW | 00:02:27 | 23 | SE |
| 22 Jun | -3.4 | 22:56:14 | 10 | W | 22:59:20 | 62 | SSW | 23:02:28 | 10 | ESE |
| 23 Jun | -3.4 | 21:54:39 | 10 | W | 21:57:47 | 77 | S | 22:00:56 | 10 | E |
| 23 Jun | -2.6 | 23:30:32 | 10 | W | 23:33:26 | 34 | SSW | 23:35:05 | 20 | SSE |
| 24 Jun | -3.2 | 22:28:54 | 10 | W | 22:31:59 | 52 | SSW | 22:35:03 | 10 | ESE |
| 25 Jun | -2.2 | 23:03:20 | 10 | W | 23:06:03 | 27 | SSW | 23:08:01 | 15 | SSE |
| 26 Jun | -2.8 | 22:01:41 | 10 | W | 22:04:41 | 42 | SSW | 22:07:41 | 10 | SE |
It’s nearly 54 years since Man’s first artificial satellite was put into orbit and 50 years since Yuri Gagarin first ventured into the unknown. The first decade and a half of space exploration saw a flurry of activity on both sides of what was then known as the “Iron Curtain”, with the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R going head-to-head, each trying to out-do the other in demonstrating their technical prowess, culminating at 20:17:40 UTC on 20th July 1969 when Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the Moon. In the 42 years since that momentous occasion we have seen numerous robotic missions to the planets and, for the last 30 years, regular forays into near Earth orbit of the NASA Space Shuttles which have delivered and maintained the great telescopes and, for the last decade or so, have contributed to the construction of the ISS. Along the way there have been many triumphs, but we should never forget the human cost:
Apollo 1, Soyuz 1, Soyuz 11, Challenger, Columbia – all pioneers who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
As someone who was born less than a year since Garagin took that flight, I’ve long had an interest in space – be it spaceflight or astronomy and remember the heady days of the Apollo programme and the wonder of knowing that a quarter of a million miles away (give or take) on the Moon there were humans walking about. In those days, of course, there were far fewer satellites in orbit and you needed the finances of a small country to afford the sort of telescope that’s commonly available nowadays. If you were lucky and happened to be looking in the right place at the right time you’d see a dot moving across the sky and maybe realise that was a satellite. That was how it was for me until one evening last summer when I happened to look up and see a swiftly moving dot followed by a much brighter object. I was somewhat mystified at the time as I didn’t for one moment think it was what it turned out to be: a Progress supply vessel followed by the International Space Station!
Since then, I’ve tried to keep track of when the ISS is due over and have been fortunate to capture it in passing. Sadly, as the Shuttle era draws to a close I’ve not been able to grab an image of ISS and Shuttle either docked or before/after docking. Maybe when Atlantis takes its last flight I’ll get a chance. Why all the fuss about the ISS? Well, I think it’s to do with the fact it’s crewed and it’s easily seen. I’m not sure whether, in their time, SkyLab, Salyut or Mir were ever visible from the UK or whether anyone was able to image them, but the ISS is unmistakable and, with suitable equipment it’s possible totake a picture showing its progress across the sky. The ultimate challenge, though, is to capture an image of the ISS not as a streak across the sky but a snapshot, so that is my next project. Hopefully I’ll be able to post the results soon!
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