shuttle visible tonight
Mar. 7th, 2011 04:58 pmFor those who find this stuff interesting, tonight offers what may be one of the last opportunities to see a space shuttle in orbital flight. "Discovery" undocked from the ISS this morning and is scheduled to spend one more day in space before returning to Earth on Wednesday.
There is a somewhat favorable pass of the Shuttle and the ISS tonight just before 1900. The culmination point will be about 28 degrees above the NE horizon at an azimuth of 30 degrees. "Discovery" should lead the space station by about 10 - 15 seconds and will be a first-magnitude object. ISS should be quite a bit brighter at -2.0 magnitude.
Here are some tabular data concerning each object:
38.918 77.067 60. USNO, Washington, DC 2000 4.0 20 F F T T T
*** 2011 Mar 7 Mon evening *** Times are PM EST *** 1853 544
H M S Tim Al Azi C Dir Mag Dys F Hgt Shd Rng
37371 STS-133 0.1
6 58 33 21 350 69 1.2 0 2 223 169 539
6 58 47 23 356 72 0.9 0 3 223 159 505
6 59 1 25 3 75 0.6 0 3 223 149 476
6 59 15 27 11 80 0.4 0 3 223 137 454
6 59 29 28 20 84 0.2 0 3 223 124 441
6 59 43 28 30 C 89 0.0 0 3 223 111 435
6 59 57 28 39 95 0.0 0 3 223 96 439
7 0 11 27 48 100 0.0 0 3 223 81 451
7 0 25 25 57 104 0.0 0 3 223 64 471
7 0 39 24 64 108 0.2 0 3 224 47 498
7 0 53 21 70 111 0.3 0 3 224 28 531
There is a somewhat favorable pass of the Shuttle and the ISS tonight just before 1900. The culmination point will be about 28 degrees above the NE horizon at an azimuth of 30 degrees. "Discovery" should lead the space station by about 10 - 15 seconds and will be a first-magnitude object. ISS should be quite a bit brighter at -2.0 magnitude.
Here are some tabular data concerning each object:
38.918 77.067 60. USNO, Washington, DC 2000 4.0 20 F F T T T
*** 2011 Mar 7 Mon evening *** Times are PM EST *** 1853 544
H M S Tim Al Azi C Dir Mag Dys F Hgt Shd Rng
37371 STS-133 0.1
6 58 33 21 350 69 1.2 0 2 223 169 539
6 58 47 23 356 72 0.9 0 3 223 159 505
6 59 1 25 3 75 0.6 0 3 223 149 476
6 59 15 27 11 80 0.4 0 3 223 137 454
6 59 29 28 20 84 0.2 0 3 223 124 441
6 59 43 28 30 C 89 0.0 0 3 223 111 435
6 59 57 28 39 95 0.0 0 3 223 96 439
7 0 11 27 48 100 0.0 0 3 223 81 451
7 0 25 25 57 104 0.0 0 3 223 64 471
7 0 39 24 64 108 0.2 0 3 224 47 498
7 0 53 21 70 111 0.3 0 3 224 28 531