Ever seen a space station?

[TheDoctor]

Evening all!
I took advantage of the clear sky the last couple of nights and watched the International Space Station go past. Had an excellent view of it for nearly 5 minutes. It's only visible from the UK for another few days (till the next time...).
linky to ESA site

What you're looking for is something about the size of a planet (ie bigger than a star) moving quite rapidly across the sky. If you see something that starts somewhere in the west, moves east and is really quite bright, that's the one. What you're seeing is sunlight reflected off the solar panels - it's not actually lit up.

 

[Joe24]

When my grandad was alive, we used to go to his bungalow and in the winter when it was dark when we left, he would point out this little dot in the sky.
He said it was flashing green and red, and it sort of did look like it, and it never really moved, no idea if that was actually a space station. That was back in 2000/2001 i think, maybe 2002.
If it was actually it and it was flashing green and red, then thats not bad to say he wouldnt buy a car with a red light on the speedo because he couldnt see red very well

 

[very-near]

It doesn't seem that long ago that the Hale-Bopp comet was in the sky. I remember looking out of the back of my house and seeing it fairly low in the sky in a westerly direction (obviously moved with time)

I can't believe it was 12 years ago

 

[TheDoctor]

@ Joe24 - Could have been - they've been building the ISS since 1998. That's actually assembling it in orbit, so it would have been visible.
Although, flashing red and green lights sounds more like a plane. Could he have been pulling your leg? Mind you, a plane would have been moving...

 

[Joe24]

Could have been - they've been building the ISS since 1998. That's actually assembling it in orbit, so it would have been visible.
Although, flashing red and green lights sounds more like a plane. Could he have been pulling your leg? Mind you, a plane would have been moving...

We thought he might of been, but it did look to be flashing red and green.
It was something like 2 flashes of green one of red or something. And it was just sat in one place in the sky

 

[Maz]

Hmm. That looks quite interesting, actually. I think I'll give it a go.
Thanks for the heads up, so to speak.

 

[TheDoctor]

@ Joe - Could have been another satellite. There's a lot in geostationary orbits, and they'd appear to stay still. They're harder to see because they're smaller and a lot further away.

@ Maz - you're welcome. I hope to be responsible for a lot of people suspiciously standing in dark places tomorrow night!

 

[levad]

Red and green flasshing light(s) was probably the lights on the cones or the skip that they had to use around site while they sorted out the foundations.

 

[dellzeqq]

Yes. November 2005. The Newhaven Night Ride. A perfect night, on the road down to Wivelsfield. We'd stopped to look at the stars. And there it was. Fings like that a chap like me don't easily forget...

 

[alecstilleyedye]

does the soyuz capsule in the leicester space museum count?

 

[TheDoctor]

does the soyuz capsule in the leicester space museum count?

I really must go there sometime. I've not seen a Soyuz capsule, just the Apollo kit they have in the Science Museum in That London.

 

[gbb]

The ISS is noticeably brighter than anything else....i wonder what you'd see if you got some decent bino's or a telescope on it...
You've been able to see normal satellites ever since they'd been up there...a bit brighter than the stars and if you take a reference point, they move imperceptibly slowly across the sky. I've seen them for years, long before the ISS.
I remember telling a colleague this maybe 20 years ago...
BOGGER OFF....you cant see a satellite he said.
I never did convince him

 

[Globalti]

Mrs RR is a bit obsessed with it and looks out for it whenever the sky is clear. I've grown a bit tired of marvelling over it TBH. A few weeks ago there was another smaller light bombing along ahead of it, which was the shuttle.

You'd need a steady hand to follow it with a telescope and even binos don't show much.

 

[Rob S]

Not a space station...but just as fascinating.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090516.html

 

[zacklaws]

If your lucky shortly after a shuttle launch and conditions and times are right, not only will you see the ISS but the shuttle close behind along with the big fuel tank which will also be close by slowly falling back to Earth.