Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Another good Week for ISS passes, (28 June - 3 July)
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| The ISS passes almost over Jupiter, as seen from Melbourne on the evening of Thursday 29 July at 18:36 AEST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. | The ISS psses below Jupiter, as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Thursday 29 July at 18:o5 ACST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. | The ISS passes below Jupiter and the Moon, as seen from Perth on the evening of Thursday 29 July at 18:06 AWST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. |
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| All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Thursday 29 July for Melbourne. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Thursday 29 July for Adelaide. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Thursday 29 July for Perth. |
Starting tomorrow night there are a series of bright evening passes of the International Space Station lasting around five days. Some are low to the horizon, but for many places in Australia this series has the ISS gliding either close to Jupiter, the waxing Moon or a series of bright stars (except Darwin, which only gets one bright evening pass on the 28th).
The most spectacular is on the 29th when the ISS passes close to Jupiter with the waxing mostly crescent Moon nearby. Melbourne has the best view with the ISS almost passing directly over Jupiter.
On the 3rd, the ISS passes close to Sirius, and from Adelaide it almostgoes in front of the bright star.
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 a Jupiter or 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.
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:51 pm 
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