Monday, January 07, 2019
A New Years Series of Bright International Space Sation Passes (7-13 January 2018)
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| The ISS passes close to Mars, as seen from Sydney on the evening of Monday 7 January at 21:42 AEDST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. | The ISS passes beside Orion's belt, as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Monday 7 January at 21:09 ACDST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), click to embiggen. | The ISS passes close to procyon and then Sirius, as seen from Perth on the evening of Monday 7 January at 20:12 AWST. Simulated in Stellarium (the ISS will actually be a bright dot), the inset shows the binocular view of the close pass.click to embiggen. |
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| All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Monday 7 January for Sydney. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Monday 7 January for Adelaide. | All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Monday 7 January for Perth. |
Over the next few days there are a series of very bright ISS passes in the evening where the ISS passes close to Orion (Adelaide 7th, Brisbane 8th, Darwin 13th), Mars (Adelaide 9th, Sydney 7th, Perth 8th, Darwin 12 (includes Moon)) and some other iconic stars and constellations (Taurus, Sydney 8th). There is a particularly close pass to the bright star Canopus as seen from Perth on the 7th.
The following tables are from data provided from Heavens Above.
Passes from Adelaide (ACDST)
| Date | Brightness | Start | Highest point | End | Pass type | ||||||
| (mag) | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | ||
| 07 Jan | -3.7 | 21:05:21 | 10° | SW | 21:08:41 | 67° | SE | 21:11:57 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 08 Jan | -1.6 | 21:50:39 | 10° | W | 21:53:06 | 19° | NW | 21:54:59 | 13° | N | visible |
| 09 Jan | -2.7 | 20:58:14 | 10° | WSW | 21:01:23 | 39° | NW | 21:04:29 | 10° | NNE | visible |
Passes from Brisbane (AEST)
| 07 Jan | -3.1 | 20:39:08 | 10° | SW | 20:41:57 | 49° | W | 20:41:57 | 49° | W | visible |
| 08 Jan | -3.6 | 19:47:18 | 10° | SW | 19:50:36 | 58° | SE | 19:52:18 | 25° | ENE | visible |
| 09 Jan | -1.5 | 20:32:47 | 10° | W | 20:34:59 | 17° | NW | 20:35:24 | 16° | NW | visible |
| 10 Jan | -2.7 | 19:40:09 | 10° | WSW | 19:43:16 | 38° | NW | 19:45:53 | 13° | NNE | visible |
| 12 Jan | -1.0 | 19:34:21 | 10° | W | 19:35:44 | 12° | NW | 19:37:06 | 10° | NNW | visible |
Passes from Darwin (ACST)
| 09 Jan | -0.4 | 21:37:47 | 10° | SW | 21:38:06 | 12° | SW | 21:38:06 | 12° | SW | visible |
| 10 Jan | -2.7 | 20:46:06 | 10° | SSW | 20:48:35 | 35° | SSE | 20:48:35 | 35° | SSE | visible |
| 11 Jan | -1.8 | 19:55:09 | 10° | S | 19:57:19 | 16° | SE | 19:59:09 | 11° | E | visible |
| 11 Jan | -0.5 | 21:31:27 | 10° | W | 21:31:51 | 12° | W | 21:31:51 | 12° | W | visible |
| 12 Jan | -3.0 | 20:38:42 | 10° | SW | 20:41:51 | 43° | NW | 20:42:30 | 37° | NNW | visible |
| 13 Jan | -3.7 | 19:46:44 | 10° | SSW | 19:50:00 | 61° | SE | 19:53:13 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 14 Jan | -1.0 | 20:33:06 | 10° | WNW | 20:34:20 | 12° | NW | 20:35:34 | 10° | NW | visible |
| 15 Jan | -2.0 | 19:39:36 | 10° | WSW | 19:42:30 | 29° | NW | 19:45:24 | 10° | N | visible |
Passes from Melbourne (AEDST)
| 07 Jan | -2.8 | 21:36:00 | 10° | WSW | 21:39:08 | 38° | NW | 21:41:57 | 12° | NNE | visible |
| 09 Jan | -1.2 | 21:29:43 | 10° | W | 21:31:40 | 15° | NW | 21:33:37 | 10° | NNW | visible |
Passes from Perth (AWST)
| 07 Jan | -3.2 | 20:08:43 | 10° | SW | 20:11:58 | 48° | SE | 20:14:38 | 14° | ENE | visible |
| 07 Jan | -0.8 | 21:47:13 | 10° | WNW | 21:47:20 | 10° | WNW | 21:47:20 | 10° | WNW | visible |
| 08 Jan | -1.9 | 20:53:44 | 10° | WSW | 20:56:26 | 23° | NW | 20:57:41 | 18° | NNW | visible |
| 09 Jan | -3.2 | 20:01:27 | 10° | SW | 20:04:42 | 52° | NW | 20:07:55 | 10° | NNE | visible |
| 11 Jan | -1.3 | 19:54:58 | 10° | W | 19:57:13 | 17° | NW | 19:59:28 | 10° | N | visible |
Passes from Sydney (AEDST)
| 07 Jan | -2.5 | 21:37:50 | 10° | WSW | 21:40:50 | 31° | NW | 21:41:57 | 25° | N | visible |
| 08 Jan | -3.6 | 20:45:45 | 10° | SW | 20:49:04 | 72° | NW | 20:52:18 | 10° | NE | visible |
| 09 Jan | -1.1 | 21:32:15 | 10° | WNW | 21:33:21 | 11° | NW | 21:34:25 | 10° | NW | visible |
| 10 Jan | -1.8 | 20:38:57 | 10° | WSW | 20:41:40 | 23° | NW | 20:44:22 | 10° | N | visible |
Passes from Hobart (AEDST)
| 07 Jan | -1.5 | 21:36:13 | 10° | W | 21:38:29 | 17° | NW | 21:40:44 | 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. As always, 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
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:33 pm 
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