Re: Event tonigh
- From: "The DOS Man" <nowhere@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:54:40 -0800
Nonny:
I watched it from about Rainbow and Flamingo at 5:22 pm yesturday from the Southwest skies. The rain has passed and the sky was crisp and clear making for a perfect night.
I commented to one of our guests that it is sad that all my life I had hoped to get to space someday, but perhaps your children will.
What the other 'star' next to it? Venus?
M
"Nonnymus" <awss@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:GdCXk.1539$v37.1516@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Walt wrote:In article <19_Uk.28584$8T2.27072@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Nonnymus
<awss@xxxxxxx> wrote:
According to a note I wrote to myself last week, tonight the folk in Henderson and LV will have an excellent view of the International Space Station at 5:51p local time in the southwest. It disappears in the NE only a few minutes later. The reason I'm mentioning it is that tonight the sun angle should be great for it to appear quite bright.
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.asp?lat=36.175&lng=-115.136&alt=0&l
oc=Las+Vegas&TZ=PST&satid=25544
Nonny, did you see it?
Yes, a bunch of neighbors gathered on the street in front of the house. A home across the street blocked the first 15 or so degrees of rise, but the station/shuttle popped over the roof right on time. It began fairly dim, but as it rose higher the light was easily as bright as Venus, which was visible all the time. Once it passed about overhead, it dimmed rapidly as it entered the earth's shadow. Wow, was it ever cool.
I recall as a youngster being out at a dirt racetrack with my parents, watching a 1/4 mile race. The race ended and the announcer told everybody to look upward and slightly to the east- the lights were shut off for a bit, and there was Sputnik- the first artificial satellite.
What was a bit surprising was just how fast the ISS/Shuttle were moving. Wow- a couple minutes of visibility at most for us, I'd guess. I had binoculars, but even with image stabilization, I couldn't make out any features. Besides, all the neighborhood kids were using them and all I got was one peek.
Something else that I've seen from Henderson was most likely an Iridium flash. I was happily laying back last winter in the hot tub one evening, drink in hand and contemplating great thoughts when there was a violet/purple flash in the sky right where I was looking. At first, i just assumed it was just a stroke or hemorrhage, but then I got excited when I realized it wasn't just my dying brain but something out in space or at least way up in the sky. Since the drink in hand was my second of the evening, it took me about 15 seconds to realize it was a reflection of sunlight off a satellite or solar panels of a satellite. Cool.
It's fun to reflect on the changes we've seen in our lifetime. . . things like Sputnik to the ISS, Constellation tri-tail and DC-3 typical passenger craft to the 747 and A380. That's nothing compared to what my father experienced. He was born 1902, and that took his lifespan from the beginning of controlled flight at Kitty Hawk all the way to sitting in front of a TV watching men walk on the moon. He literally went from horse and buggy to the Interstate highway system and kerosene lights to television. Sadly, he missed out on some really cool things like GPS, computers, flat screen monitors and the Internet. He would have liked it all.
--
Nonnymus-
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress....
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Event tonigh
- From: Walt
- Re: Event tonigh
- References:
- Event tonigh
- From: Nonnymus
- Re: Event tonigh
- From: Walt
- Re: Event tonigh
- From: Nonnymus
- Event tonigh
- Prev by Date: Re: Free restaurant.com gift certificates
- Next by Date: Happy Thanksgiving...a little humor
- Previous by thread: Re: Event tonigh
- Next by thread: Re: Event tonigh
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
