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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.
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
That's what they WANT you to believe.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
"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
the Station will surpass Venus as the brightest object in the night sky,
Is the sun so obvious that they don't even see it?
Ummm... Since when is the sun in the *night* sky??
"Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
How often do you see the sun in the night sky?
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
I was mocking the /. headline, not the article headline. :)
You are not the customer.
He lives in Alaska, you insensitive clod!
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
Actually, in order to combat global warming, they intend to turn off the sun.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
... when it springs another gas leak and blows up.
The title is "ISS To Become Second Brightest Object In the Sky."
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?!
But some times of the year Venus isn't visible at night and some (not necessarily the same) times of the month, the moon isn't visible at night. So there may well be nights when the ISS is the brightest thing up there.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
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
You can actually see the sun in the NIGHT sky? You must have pretty good eyes.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Will it be brighter than iridium flares, which can reach an apparent magnitude of -8.0?
"Earth rotation axis FAIL!"
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
At night. Duh.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Heavens Above gives predictions for the location of the ISS at your location so that you know when and where to look for it.
Living here in the cold north, the Sun never sets in the summers. It's still night, even if it's not dark.
- Henrik
- when the Shadows descend -
Nah, he just sees the reflection of it off of the Moon, Venus, Mars, ISS, etc.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
And that's where you stopped reading?
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.
No, he didn't necessarily stop reading there, but... people compose their first reply in their heads as soon as they read the title, and displaying the usual level of /. impulse control, they hit read more, hit reply, and post it. Then they read the summary, make another reply. Then, maybe, they read the actual article. If they haven't already gotten distracted by all the other clueless posts and arguments over first reactions and speculating that's so much more fun than actually learning the facts. :p
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Bloody armchair astronomers. Go outside and try to count them!
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
> Is the sun so obvious that they don't even see it?
That reminded me of this creationist quote:
"One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isnâ(TM)t possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it."
http://stupac2.blogspot.com/2007/05/dumbest-creationist-quote-ever.html
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.
That all depends on how you define night. Astronomically speaking it's not night if the sun hasn't set.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
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
The energy required to induce a genetic mutation is vanishingly tiny compared to the energy required to be alive in the first place. And the energy that keeps us alive comes from food, which comes (possibly via a middleman, or indeed a middlecow) from photosynthesising plants, and ultimately from the Sun. Although I suppose that the creationists might have a theory of Intelligent Nutrition where the energy really comes from God, who blesses our food, and that's why it's important to say grace before eating. Man shall not live by bread alone, and all that.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Or maybe thay are just commenting on how bad the summary is.
FRA: STFU GTFO
I lot of suns are in our night sky.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on