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ISS To Become Second Brightest-Object In the Sky
Matt_dk writes "Move over, Morning Star. Once Canadarm2 helps install the fourth and final set of solar array wings to the International Space Station later this month, the Station will surpass Venus as the brightest object in the night sky, second only to the Moon. The Space Shuttle Discovery is set to deliver the power-generating solar panels and Starboard 6 (S6) truss segment to the ISS on the 125th mission in the Shuttle program, known as STS-119/15A (slated for launch on March 11)."
Yes, the ISS is bright and will be brighter.
This still doesn't rival the brightness of an Iridium flare.
Predictions of the ISS and Iridium flares are provided at http://www.heavens-above.com/
Then there have been comets and supernova that have been visible during daylight. Yea, I think the ISS is cool to observe, but don't call it 2nd brightest after the moon.
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
Move over, Morning Star. Once Canadarm2 helps install the fourth and final set of solar array wings to the International Space Station later this month, the Station will surpass Venus as the brightest object in the night sky, second only to the Moon.
That's no moon. It's the International Space Station.
Is the sun so obvious that they don't even see it?
FRA: STFU GTFO
You mean third. ISS, Moon, *Sun*. :)
You are not the customer.
I guess the sun isn't very bright.
I keep thinking of the effects of a discarded Coke bottle on those non-technically savvy people in "The Gods Must Be Crazy"...
Perhaps they will select Three Wise Men to go on a pilgrimage toward the bright new star...
I live in a city so the light pollution messes up any chances I have at looking at a starry sky. I have as a child always found it incomprehensible that people said that you couldn't count all the stars because I can surely do it where I live.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
My dad grew up in the middle-of-nowhere, Idaho, and says when he was kid they would watch Sputnik fly across the sky. The high elevation and lack of big city lights make the night sky amazing.
Whale
"I saw two shooting stars last night,
I wished on them but they were only satellites.
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?"
--Billy Brag "A New England"
More music, fewer hits
If the ISS does turn out to be brighter than Venus - which varies in brightness considerably, depending on where in it's orbit it is - relative to earth, then it will be interesting to see if it's visible during daytime passes, too.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
U.S.A.
started the economic collapse implosion.
Good luck in your Gulug.
Yours In Socialism,
K. Trout
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Anyone know which country the Canadarm2 is from? /ducks
... when it springs another gas leak and blows up.
I would think ISS would be 3rd, behind the moon and the Sun!
What does sky objects have to do with a British tabloid newspaper?
Isn't it ironic that the parts of the ISS that are meant to absorb as much sunlight as they can, actually reflect enough of it to make the ISS the seconds brightest object in the sky:P
0x or or snor perron?!
What does Skyy vodka have to do with newspapers, and why did you mess up the spelling?
Spiking in 3, 2, 1...
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Will it be brighter than iridium flares, which can reach an apparent magnitude of -8.0?
Heavens Above gives predictions for the location of the ISS at your location so that you know when and where to look for it.
interesting variation of trumanshow, which actually goes way further to use the moon as the camera studio, creating a realistic fiction
This summary left out a key element whenever solar power is mentioned. How much power in standard popular press houses is this array rated for?
Here is a pre-1950 reference to the Moon. And you can easily check its veracity. The moon is close enough that a cannon shot can reach it. So, all you need to do to check if this is true or not is to tie yourself to a cannonball and shoot to the moon. Happy landing... er moonings.
Bloody armchair astronomers. Go outside and try to count them!
Now witness the power of this fully armed and operational battle station!
I have not yet seen the ISS, but will probably look for it soon with my 5-year old daughter.
One of my strongest childhood memories is of watching the Echo satellite go overhead from my grandmother's backyard during a summer family barbecue, probably sometime between 1966 to 1968 (though it had been launched in 1960). Everyone was aware it would be coming overhead so we were all waiting for it -- they must have announced it in the paper or something for our area. It seemed a very bright star and passed completely from horizon to horizon in what must have only been a half minute or so -- way too fast for a high altitude plane, plus it didn't slow down as it got closer to the horizon. Hopefully seeing the ISS will bring back this memory in better detail. Even more hopefully my daughter will have the same sense of awe I remember having when I saw Echo.
While I wouldn't mind being younger, I do feel sad for today's generation, I don't think they ever get the sense of the fantastic we experienced so often in the 60s and 70s from our space program.
BTW Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on my 11th birthday and Viking I on Mars on my 18th... if you want to do the math to figure out hold old I am. This probably helps explain why I can't walk into the Smithsonian Air and Space museum without a bit of a chill or having to strain from keeping a tear or two from leaking from my eyes when I think and see how bold and glorious we once were as a Nation.
Letter To Iran
I look for the ISS several times a month. A schedule is here In a given month the ISS is visible about one week in the morning sky and one week in the evening. The orbit moves to be optimal for US or Soviet launches at different times.
Was pretty surprised to see a bright speck in the sky late one morning, got the binoculars, and it resolved as a crescent.. Called the observatory and told'em i saw a bright spot in the sky, what could it be? After he asked if it was the sun, he suggested it was venus, and sure enough it was! It was just before venus was "going around the corner" so to speak, from orbiting on the same side of the sun as us, to the far side.
Except to the 10 year old it's not fantastic. It's commonplace. I'
I wonder if we will ever be able to do automated builds of space stations? make install space station!
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Wow a much more useless discussion than usual. Is it 2nd or 18th mostest brightiest thingy, what about iridium flares? what about UFOs? What about that infernal Police helicopter circling overhead??
Would you like to judge for yourself? This NASA webpage has a nifty javascript that will tell you when it might be visible to you.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/
It's multi-platform, it's calculation intensive, it's got azimuths and elevations. Newton F'ing invented calculus for this sort of thing, but I can do it by typing in my zip code and clicking "Next Sighting." Now THAT's news for nerds!
-- QED
Does this make you the 2nd brightest person on slashdot?
You meant climate CHANGE, didn't you ? ...
Warming will be what is caused by gigantic mirrors pointed at the earth, reflexing the IR spectrum of the Sun
should we expect posts like : First post XD !!!! anytime soon ? where are the posters that had a clue about these things ? or just got downrated to the point of no return ?
I used to remark to my kids that you can see three celestial objects in daylight- the Sun, the Moon, aand Venus.
A couple of years ago I was driving home with my son in the late afternoon and happened to notice Venus in the western sky, abut an hour before sunset.
We stopped the car, looked up, and sure enough, there was the Moon.
All three objects were visible at the same time!
I suspect this phenomenon is not all that rare though. - it depends on season, Venus' position, and time of the lunar month.
Perhaps soon, if the ISS is bright enough, we'll be able to see four objects during the day.
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- aqk
F U
Thanks for the link - amazing