Celestial Gazing - Northern Colorado Rocketry

This topic has 13 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 7 months ago by SCOTT EVANS.

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February 16, 2008 at 5:06 pm #40135
Jeffrey Joe Hinton
Moderator
For those interested, there’s a great opportunity tonight to see the ISS/Atlantis sparkle in the sky above. Just after six tonight (18:07) until about 18:13, the track is almost directly over Boulder. Details can be found at http://www.heavens-above.com Definately one of those rare websites that’s worth bookmarking and visiting regularly.
February 17, 2008 at 1:25 am #46902
Jeffrey Joe Hinton
Moderator
Yehaw but that was kool!! Really moving out there/up there. Probably the brightest pass we’ve had in quite a while.
February 17, 2008 at 1:42 am #46903
Warren B. Musselman
Moderator
It was cool… and supposedly we should be able to see this satellite that they’re going to shoot down next week.

Warren
February 17, 2008 at 6:08 am #46904
Anonymous
Right at the top of the link Joe mentions above you can find info on the errant satellite (at least it was on there earlier this week)… there is a neat chart showing the decay of the orbit, as well as visible passes for your area. You’ll have to enter lat/lon or at least a zipcode.

JW
February 18, 2008 at 8:11 am #46905
Bruce R. Schaefer
Oh, crap… I waited, but there was a cloud over my house… blast light polution and Nature’s sense of humor!… even had my 70mm binocs ready. Drat… but see, JW, manned space flight can be fun… 😉
February 18, 2008 at 1:11 pm #46906
Anonymous
Bruce, have you ever checked out the Iridium flares on that website? On some nights, you can see several of them. I saw a -8 magnitude the other night, it was clearly visible through a nearby moon and the streetlights. Very cool.

JW

PS they are unmanned 😉
February 18, 2008 at 6:51 pm #46907
Bruce R. Schaefer
PS they are unmanned

Ha! I’ll check it out.
February 19, 2008 at 12:24 am #46908
SCOTT EVANS
Right at the top of the link Joe mentions above you can find info on the errant satellite (at least it was on there earlier this week)… there is a neat chart showing the decay of the orbit, as well as visible passes for your area. You’ll have to enter lat/lon or at least a zipcode.

JW

I hear we are going to try and shoot it down to ummm, send a message…… 😯
hope it works 🙄
February 19, 2008 at 1:04 pm #46909
Anonymous
[
I hear we are going to try and shoot it down to ummm, send a message…… 😯
hope it works 🙄

The Chinese shot down a satellite, and it was much higher up. It caused a great deal of angst because the shrapnel will be descending through the more commonly used zones of orbit for decades. Their shot was internationally condemned. The US attempt is different, in that our satellite is much lower, and debris will not cause the same problems. The bigger issue is that we (allegedly) don’t have the technology to shoot down a satellite.

If we fail, after the Chinese succeeded, it will be fodder for China. I sure hope we hit the mark. Incidentally, the reason for the attempt is supposedly the concern over hydrazine tanks. There is also the ticklish issue of the fact that this is a spy satellite, and of course we don’t want that technology shared….
February 19, 2008 at 4:08 pm #46910
Jeffrey Joe Hinton
Moderator
Cosmic debris is job security for the folks at NORAD. Anti-missile defense and satelite hunting are all parts of the same madness that let Skylab fall because we weren’t ready to share information/technology. Re-entry is still guesswork for uncontrolled objects. “Vonce rockets go up, who cares where they come down, dat’s not my department said Werner Von Braun.”
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