I just...

Carruthers · 10-19-2014, 01:41 PM

I just went outside to watch the International Space Station pass overhead. There's no moon as yet so it was the brightest thing in the sky.
I'm not familiar with the scientific method of determining brightness, but I'd say that it was probably brighter than I've ever seen Venus.

I'm no astronomer but I do like to know what's going on around me. I remember Dad showing me an early Echo satellite when I was very small.
The Echo craft were, I think, balloons so their reflective surface would be substantial. I used to spot Skylab from time to time and I think that my best sighting was a Shuttle chasing the ISS to rendezvous.
Difficult to estimate, but I think that it would have been about fifty miles in trail. I have a feeling that that was the penultimate Shuttle flight.

10-19-2014, 01:41 PM	#11
Carruthers Junior Master Dwellar Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Buckinghamshire UK Posts: 4,059	I just went outside to watch the International Space Station pass overhead. There's no moon as yet so it was the brightest thing in the sky. I'm not familiar with the scientific method of determining brightness, but I'd say that it was probably brighter than I've ever seen Venus. I'm no astronomer but I do like to know what's going on around me. I remember Dad showing me an early Echo satellite when I was very small. The Echo craft were, I think, balloons so their reflective surface would be substantial. I used to spot Skylab from time to time and I think that my best sighting was a Shuttle chasing the ISS to rendezvous. Difficult to estimate, but I think that it would have been about fifty miles in trail. I have a feeling that that was the penultimate Shuttle flight.

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