Astroblog: Another good Week for ISS passes, (9 November

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

Another good Week for ISS passes, (9 November - 16 November 2017)


The ISS passes below Saturn, as seen from Melbourne on the evening of Sunday 12 November at 22:23 AEST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen.	The ISS passes near the tail of Scorpius, as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Sunday 12 November at 22:52 ACST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen.	The ISS passes between the pointers and the tail of Scorpius, as seen from Perth on the evening of Sunday 12 November at 19:55 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 Sunday 12 November for Melbourne.	All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Sunday 12 November for Adelaide.	All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Sunday 12 November for Perth.

Starting Thursday there are a series of bright evening passes of the International Space Station lasting around seven days. Some are low to the horizon, some rapidly enter earth's shadow, but for many places in Australia this series has the ISS gliding either close to Saturn or a series of bright stars (except Darwin, which only gets three bright evening passes low above the horizon).

The ISS passes extremely close to the bright stars alpha and Beta Centauri and Fomalhaut during some of these passes (check your local predictions). The following tables are from data provided from Heavens Above.

Passes from Adelaide

Date	Brightness	Start			Highest point			End			Pass type
Date	(mag)	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Pass type
08 Nov	-1.6	21:08:48	10°	SSW	21:11:07	17°	SSE	21:12:33	14°	ESE	visible
08 Nov	-0.7	22:44:34	10°	WSW	22:45:12	15°	WSW	22:45:12	15°	WSW	visible
09 Nov	-3.2	21:52:20	10°	SW	21:55:06	55°	SSW	21:55:06	55°	SSW	visible
10 Nov	-2.7	21:00:20	10°	SSW	21:03:27	35°	SE	21:05:03	22°	E	visible
10 Nov	-0.7	22:37:23	10°	W	22:37:43	12°	W	22:37:43	12°	W	visible
11 Nov	-2.8	21:44:35	10°	WSW	21:47:42	37°	NW	21:47:42	37°	NW	visible
12 Nov	-3.8	20:52:12	10°	SW	20:55:34	85°	NW	20:57:45	20°	NE	visible
13 Nov	-1.3	21:37:41	10°	W	21:39:30	14°	NW	21:40:32	12°	NNW	visible
14 Nov	-2.1	20:44:31	10°	WSW	20:47:27	28°	NW	20:50:22	10°	NNE	visible
16 Nov	-0.8	20:38:23	10°	WNW	20:39:09	11°	NW	20:39:54	10°	NW	visible

Passes from Brisbane

Date	Brightness	Start			Highest point			End			Pass type
Date	(mag)	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Pass type
08 Nov	-0.4	20:42:25	10°	SSW	20:42:33	11°	S	20:42:33	11°	S	visible
09 Nov	-1.1	19:51:30	10°	SSE	19:52:27	11°	SSE	19:52:27	11°	SSE	visible
10 Nov	-1.0	20:33:57	10°	SW	20:35:03	19°	SSW	20:35:03	19°	SSW	visible
11 Nov	-2.4	19:42:07	10°	SSW	19:45:02	27°	SE	19:45:02	27°	SE	visible
12 Nov	-1.5	18:50:45	10°	S	18:52:41	14°	SE	18:54:35	10°	ESE	visible
12 Nov	-1.5	20:26:09	10°	WSW	20:27:45	23°	WSW	20:27:45	23°	WSW	visible
13 Nov	-3.9	19:33:46	10°	SW	19:37:07	87°	SE	19:37:51	51°	NE	visible
14 Nov	-2.9	18:41:45	10°	SSW	18:44:52	35°	SE	18:47:57	10°	ENE	visible
14 Nov	-0.9	20:19:44	10°	W	20:20:42	12°	WNW	20:20:42	12°	WNW	visible
15 Nov	-2.0	19:26:06	10°	WSW	19:28:58	27°	NW	19:30:57	15°	N	visible

Passes from Melbourne

Date	Brightness	Start			Highest point			End			Pass type
Date	(mag)	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Pass type
08 Nov	-3.0	21:38:40	10°	SW	21:41:54	42°	SE	21:42:33	37°	ESE	visible
09 Nov	-2.1	20:46:44	10°	SSW	20:49:36	25°	SSE	20:52:26	10°	E	visible
09 Nov	-2.0	22:23:02	10°	WSW	22:25:06	28°	W	22:25:06	28°	W	visible
10 Nov	-3.8	21:30:41	10°	SW	21:34:03	77°	NW	21:35:03	42°	NE	visible
11 Nov	-3.3	20:38:32	10°	SW	20:41:51	53°	SE	20:45:02	10°	ENE	visible
11 Nov	-1.2	22:16:08	10°	W	22:17:42	14°	WNW	22:17:42	14°	WNW	visible
12 Nov	-2.2	21:23:03	10°	WSW	21:25:59	28°	NW	21:27:45	17°	N	visible
14 Nov	-1.0	21:16:44	10°	WNW	21:17:43	11°	NW	21:18:40	10°	NW	visible

Passes from Perth

Date	Brightness	Start			Highest point			End			Pass type
Date	(mag)	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Pass type
08 Nov	-1.2	20:12:49	10°	S	20:14:18	12°	SSE	20:15:12	11°	SE	visible
08 Nov	-0.2	21:47:47	10°	SW	21:47:52	11°	SW	21:47:52	11°	SW	visible
09 Nov	-2.1	20:55:40	10°	SW	20:57:46	32°	SSW	20:57:46	32°	SSW	visible
10 Nov	-2.3	20:03:49	10°	SSW	20:06:42	26°	SE	20:07:43	22°	ESE	visible
11 Nov	-2.7	20:47:46	10°	SW	20:50:22	42°	W	20:50:22	42°	W	visible
12 Nov	-3.8	19:55:30	10°	SW	19:58:50	70°	SE	20:00:25	28°	ENE	visible
13 Nov	-1.5	20:40:38	10°	W	20:42:51	17°	NW	20:43:12	16°	NW	visible
14 Nov	-2.6	19:47:40	10°	WSW	19:50:46	36°	NW	19:53:23	13°	NNE	visible
16 Nov	-1.0	19:40:57	10°	W	19:42:29	13°	NW	19:44:02	10°	NNW	visible

Passes from Sydney

Date	Brightness	Start			Highest point			End			Pass type
Date	(mag)	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Pass type
08 Nov	-2.0	21:40:25	10°	SSW	21:42:33	30°	S	21:42:33	30°	S	visible
09 Nov	-2.0	20:48:36	10°	SSW	20:51:21	23°	SE	20:52:27	19°	ESE	visible
09 Nov	-0.5	22:24:52	10°	WSW	22:25:06	11°	WSW	22:25:06	11°	WSW	visible
10 Nov	-1.3	19:57:05	10°	S	19:58:57	14°	SSE	20:00:48	10°	ESE	visible
10 Nov	-2.9	21:32:25	10°	SW	21:35:03	49°	WSW	21:35:03	49°	WSW	visible
11 Nov	-3.4	20:40:16	10°	SW	20:43:34	54°	SE	20:45:02	28°	ENE	visible
12 Nov	-1.9	21:24:58	10°	WSW	21:27:39	22°	NW	21:27:45	22°	NW	visible
13 Nov	-3.1	20:32:19	10°	WSW	20:35:35	49°	NW	20:37:51	17°	NNE	visible
15 Nov	-1.3	20:25:03	10°	W	20:27:21	17°	NW	20:29:38	10°	N	visible

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 star 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.

Labels: ISS, Satellite, Saturn, unaided eye