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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Watching the night sky

I am a sky watcher and love meteor showers and shooting star as well as satellite sightings. Click here for space weather, click here for Aurora photos, Click here for satellite flybys enter your zip code and you can see when and what time the next satellite will fly over your area. Here is the next few days for Burbank CA.
The Genesis 1 and 2 description.
Genesis 1
BRIGHTNESS: visual magnitude 3 (dim but visible)
Genesis 1 is a prototype space hotel room -- no kidding! Genesis was launched by Bigelow Aerospace as a test to see if inflatable satellites can be orbited and eventually connected together to create a sprawling space hotel. There are currently two modules in orbit: Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Both modules are faint, they shine like 4th magnitude stars, but they are easy to notice with the unaided eye because of their motion across the sky. For more information visit the Bigelow Aerospace web site.
Jules Verne description
Jules verne
BRIGHTNESS: visual magnitude 1 (easy to see)
On March 9, 2008, Europe put a new spaceship in Earth orbit--the Jules Verne. Also known as the ATV (short for "automated transfer vehicle"), Jules Verne is an unmanned, robotic spaceship able to carry almost 8 tons of equipment and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). This is its maiden voyage. For the next few weeks, Jules Verne will perform a series of test maneuvers in Earth orbit, approaching and following the ISS and finally docking with the station after space shuttle Endeavour departs on March 25th.

Zip: 91502 Location: Burbank, California Latitude: 34.2 Longitude: -118.3

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 1 08:49:29 pm NNW 08:53:42 57° 3.4 (dim)

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 1 08:47:04 pm NNW 08:51:04 39° 4.2 (dim)

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 1 08:44:46 pm WNW 08:47:54 27° 5.0 (dim)

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 2 09:56:25 pm NNW 10:00:25 27° 4.9 (dim)

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 2 08:13:31 pm N 08:16:53 32° 4.6 (dim)
Hubble Space Telescope 09:17:41 pm WSW 09:21:10 29° 3.8 (dim)

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 2 08:11:04 pm NNW 08:15:11 46° 3.8 (dim)
Hubble Space Telescope 09:16:04 pm WSW 09:20:04 32° 3.6 (dim)

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 2 08:08:42 pm NNW 08:12:58 67° 3.2 (dim)
Hubble Space Telescope 09:14:29 pm WSW 09:17:57 33° 3.5 (dim)

Satellite Rise time Direction to look Transit time Max elevation Magnitude
Genesis 2 08:06:25 pm NNW 08:10:42 84° 3.0 (visible)
Jules Verne 09:00:31 pm NNW 09:02:41 27° 3.0 (visible)

Look up and enjoy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Dave:
I just checked out your Blog. Wow, I never knew your interests included the stars. I sent that Satellite link to 2 friends, they're gonna dig it!. You have more layers than I realized. I checked out Tammy Turks' and Mary S'. I'm very impressed with all of you! And I'm so proud of you and your goal to stop smoking!
Your friend,
Toni W. from Burbank