Tuesday, January 10, 2017
The ISS Passes Over Venus and Mars (10-19 January)
 |  |  |
| The ISS passes almost over Venus amd Mars as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Saturday 14 January at 21:54 ACDST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. | The ISS passes near Venus and Mars as seen from Brisbane on the evening of Sunday 15 January at 20:35 AEST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. | The ISS passes above Venus and Mars as seen from Perth on the evening of Saturday 14 January at 20:57 AWST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. |
 |  |  |
| All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Saturday 14 January for Adelaide. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Sunday 15 January for Brisbane. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Saturday 14 January for Perth. |
The International Space Station returns to our evening skies from tonight (Tuesday 10 January) for a series of bright passes seen by most of Australia. Many of these are close to interesting objects like the bright star Sirius and the constellation of Orion, but the outstanding passes are close to Venus and Mars.
Most of the major cites see the ISS pass above or below Venus and Mars in the evening at the following days and times:
Adelaide 14th 21:54 ACDST, 15th 21:03 ACDST;
Brisbane 15th 20:35 AEST;
Sydney 13th 21:42 AEDST, 15th 21:34 AEDST;
Melbourne 22:00:15 AEDST;
Perth 14th 20:57 AWST;
Hobart 11th 21:48 AEDST, 13th 21:39 AEDST.
The pass for Hobart on the 13th is almost on top of Venus.
Other notable passes are close to the bright star Sirius (Adelaide 13th, Brisbane 14th, Darwin 19th, Melbourne 11th), Aldebaran (Perth 15th) and the constellation of Orion (Adelaide 12th, Sydney 15th).
There are also some nice passes to other stars and constellation to numerous to mention, check them out for your site at Heavens Above or CalSky.
When and what you will see is VERY location dependent, so you need to use either Heavens Above or CalSky to get site specific predictions for your location, a small difference in location can mean the difference between the ISS passing over Venus and missing it completely.
Start looking several minutes before the pass is going to start to get yourself oriented and your eyes dark adapted. Be patient, there may be slight differences in the time of the ISS appearing due to orbit changes not picked up by the predictions. Use the most recent prediction for your site.
Labels: ISS, Mars, Satellite, unaided eye, Venus
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 6:06 pm 
Comments:
<< Home
Hello Ian. Are you able to give some information regarding the Boom Star. If the article in this mornings West Australian news paper is correct the event would have to be the greatest event in humanity. keep well. Steve. Perth W.A
Hello Ian. Are you able to give some information regarding the Boom Star. If the article in this mornings West Australian news paper is correct the event would have to be the greatest event in humanity. keep well. Steve. Perth W.A
Hi I saw a huge comet like fireball in adelaide at about 23.30 maybe about 45degrees up looking south west it was like a slow shooting star any ideas what this was
Hi Steve, as usual the papers get things a bit wrong. As far as I know, no one in the astronomical community is calling the predicted merger of the double stars in the system as the "boom star", the predicted merger/collision in 2022 will be bright, but tehe prected brightness is only a bit brighter than delta crucis, the dimmest of the four stars that make the cross of the souther cross. better details are here http://www.skyandtelescope.com/uncategorized/stars-en-route-to-merger/
Post a Comment
<< Home
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
