Satellite Flybys & Stargazing

[MotherNature]

Can't remember if I shared this already with everyone or not so please forgive me if I'm redundant.

Spaceweather.com is an excellent site for seeing what's in your night sky.  You can customize according to your zip code and even sign up for 'alerts' about planet sightings, satellite flyovers, meteor showers, auroras, (we were able to see the International Space Station fly over Assateague this summer) etc.  The site isn't too technical; it's very easy for the layperson to understand.  We've seen a lot of neat things thanks to their alerts - just thought I'd pass it on in case anyone else is interested.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

[austinado16]

Cool tip!  I'm going to check it out.

When we hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon back in August, it was too hot to sleep in the (all mesh) tent, so we put our mats on the picnic table and laid there watching the satelites, shooting stars.......and bats.  It was quite a show!

[WolfPack]

Thanks for the tip to that well be cool for the kids to.

[AustinBoston]

I've always used Heavens-Above, which is a bit technical, but gives me exactly what I want.

Austin

[wavery]

I checked and found that the International Space Station was going to fly over at 5:50PM and take 6 minutes to go straight over-head (88 degrees off the horizon).

I went to the roof at 5:45 and watched SW horizon. Sure enough, at 5:50, I saw a dim star coming up. Within a minute, it was the brightest thing in the sky as it zoomed through space. 5 minutes later, it faded off to the NW.

That was really neat..............thanks for sharing the link. I can't wait to show the grandkids.

[CajunCamper]

Thanks MotherNature, I will check out this site.

Here in Louisiana prior to the most recent shuttle tragedy, the space shuttle used to re-enter the atmosphere over Louisiana when landing in Florida. We used to get quite a show during night landings. It would streak across the sky from west to east with a bright fireball at the lead about the size of a pencil eraser with a long redish orange tail following behind that stretched out over 1/3 of the sky before fading out completely. And then came the sonic boom.

I'm glad we were able to experience that a few times when my kids were young.

CajunCamper