FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Space Station Flyover Monday Night

[Tom Polakis <tpolakis@xxxxxxx>]

On Monday, April 14, there will be an excellent pass of the International Space 
Station over Phoenix.  The ISS reaches will appear low in the northwest at 7:33 
p.m., and pass nearly through the zenith.  It will disappear into the earth's 
shadow at 7:38, when it will be low in the southeast.

Since the moon is in the sky, it was worth checking the CalSky Web site 
(http://www.calsky.com/) to see where the Space Station could be seen to pass 
in front of the moon.  Since the ISS is only 300 miles away when it's near the 
moon, parallax is significant; the path width is only 3 miles.  Go outside that 
path, and you see only a near miss.  It's best to be on the centerline.

I plotted the centerline over the Valley, and uploaded three images to my Web 
site.

http://members.cox.net/tpolakis/astro/ISS_path_20080414.jpg

The first image is obviously an overview.  Scroll down to the next two to find 
better detail that will put you on the centerline.  Note that since the ISS 
travels at 1 degree per second, it takes only a half second to cross the moon's 
disc.

Provided you're willing to travel, events that involve a silhouetted ISS in 
front of the moon or sun are common.  But this event is rare in that the ISS 
will be illuminated brightly during the transit.  Its surface brightness will 
likely be quite a bit higher than the sun.

How do I know that CalSky works?  I used it this past Tuesday to produce this 
image of the ISS transiting the sun.

http://www.pbase.com/polakis/image/95364577

Tom
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