[Tech1] ISS spotting

Sat Mar 30 04:26:29 CDT 2019

It's nice and bright, and clearly moving - not difficult to see. It's amazing how quickly disappears when it loses the sun.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bernard Newnham via Tech1 
  To: tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk 
  Cc: Bernard Newnham 
  Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2019 8:52 AM
  Subject: Re: [Tech1] ISS spotting

  Nothing powers it,  it's in orbit, though it has to have a bit of a push from time to time to counter atmospheric drag or whatever.

  https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-orbit-58.html

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station

  Play orbiting for yourself for free - http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

  The ISS Detector app tell you when it will pass overhead, but it also tells you when it will pass low on the horizon, so if you see one of those forecasted you can look at the orbit track and see where it is passing overhead.  Or you can do lots of maths based on it's orbit altitude of 250 miles.

  B

  On 30/03/2019 08:06, Alasdair Lawrance via Tech1 wrote:

    According to the Caltech website, it’s travelling at approx. 17,150 mph.  I’m trying to find the length and average height above the earth of the ISS orbit. 

    Next question, what powers it to travel at such a speed? Just earth’s gravity?

    Sent from my iPad Pro.

    On 30 Mar 2019, at 07:24, terrymeadowcroft via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:

      Magic!
        ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Geoffrey Hawkes via Tech1 
        To: vernon.dyer ; tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk 
        Sent: Friday, March 29, 2019 11:15 PM
        Subject: Re: [Tech1] ISS spotting

        What I don’t understand is how it manages to circle the earth in 100 minutes when I seem to remember it took two or three minutes to do the arc above me? I’ve only seen it once and that was several years ago and must look out for it again to see if I got that right. 
        I have the ISS app that plots it’s trajectory and it’s currently in the South Pacific heading north east having just gone over New Zealand and earlier passed over the south west tip of Portugal. How close does it have to come to the UK for it to be visible here?
        Puzzled,

        Geoff 
        Sent from my iPhone

        On 29 Mar 2019, at 13:41, vernon.dyer via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:

          No, because the ISS orbits the earth every 100 minutes approximately, so both times are correct.

          Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
          -------- Original message --------
          From: terrymeadowcroft via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> 
          Date: 29/03/2019 12:30 (GMT+00:00) 
          To: bernard.newnham at ntlworld.com 
          Cc: tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk 
          Subject: Re: [Tech1] ISS e-mails 

          Hello Bernard,

          I got 2 Spot the station emails this morning; first one said 7:07 for 6 minutes, second said 8:42 for 3 minutes. I guess the second one corrects the first?!

          Terry (Meadowcroft)
            ----- Original Message ----- 
            From: Bernard Newnham via Tech1 
            To: tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk 
            Cc: Bernard Newnham 
            Sent: Friday, March 29, 2019 9:30 AM
            Subject: Re: [Tech1] ISS e-mails

            The ISS orbit is inclined at 51 degrees to the equator - apparently a compromise to do with the latitudes of Baikonur and Canaveral, where supplies are lifted from. It just goes round and round in its orbit, that's all.  Meanwhile the earth turns under it , and when it gets back to a particular point in the orbit every 90 minutes or so, a different place is under it. Like the stars, it's impossible to see in daylight, but when the sun is shining on it and not you it's a pretty bright object moving at a fair clip across the sky.

            Next chance to see, here in Woking, is tonight at 1906  till 1912, going right overhead, so should be easy to spot in a clear sky. There's an app for that, called ISS Detector.

            B

            On 28/03/2019 20:19, Alasdair Lawrance via Tech1 wrote:

Since it doesn’t appear at the same time every day, is it pre-programmed to follow different paths and orbits, or is it manoeuvred by the crew?  Some days it doesn’t appear at all, so you don’t get an e. How is it worked out when our planet is spinning and tilting on its axis, as well as moving in a non-circular orbit round the sun?

--------------------------------------------------------------------
            -- 
            Tech1 mailing list
            Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
            http://tech-ops.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/tech1_tech-ops.co.uk

          -- 
          Tech1 mailing list
          Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
          http://tech-ops.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/tech1_tech-ops.co.uk

------------------------------------------------------------------------
        -- 
        Tech1 mailing list
        Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
        http://tech-ops.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/tech1_tech-ops.co.uk

      -- 
      Tech1 mailing list
      Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
      http://tech-ops.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/tech1_tech-ops.co.uk

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  -- 
  Tech1 mailing list
  Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
  http://tech-ops.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/tech1_tech-ops.co.uk
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://tech-ops.co.uk/pipermail/tech1_tech-ops.co.uk/attachments/20190330/b9e016ec/attachment.html>