| Observing Location | McDonalds, Westchester Ave near Benedict Ave, Bronx, NY |
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| Observational Period | 1800-1830 EST |
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| Atmospheric Conditions |
| Cloud Cover | Scattered Clouds |
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| Temperature | 45°F |
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| Wind | Light Breeze
gusting to
21 MPH |
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| Humidity | Moderate |
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| Barometric Pressure | 29.86" Hg
Rising |
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| Feels Like | Cold
Wind Chill 41°F (37°F) |
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The wind made if feel much colder than it was and it was difficult controlling my hobble with it pushing on my back.
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| Instruments | Naked-eye - Charlie |
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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| 1751 EST | Sunset
Civil twilight begins |
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| 1818 EST | Civil Twilight ends
Nautical Twilight begins |
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| Target | Iridium 31 Flare |
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| Constellation | Ori |
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| Category | Satellite |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20080305.1822 EST |
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| Comments | I underestimated the height and it seemed to be late so I almost missed it.
It was very bright -- much closer to a Mag -8 than a Mag -5 -- and gold colored.
| | Heavens Above | CalSky |
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| Alt. | 53° | 53.2° |
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| Az. | 175°
S | 173.6
S |
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| Mag. | -8 | -4.7 |
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I saw it passing to the left of Bellatrix and falling vertically through or just to the right of Alnilam where I lost it.
| Star | Alt. | Az, |
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| Bellatrix | 54° 21’ | 178° 36’ |
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| Alnilam | 46° 41’ | 174° 46’ |
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This confirms my suspicion that bothHeavens Above and CalSky report their azimuth in Degrees True measured from True North. This is strange since they both give the time as Civil Time for the location specified and not as either UT or the time for the time zone of the location. If the pages were being written for astronomers I would expect times to be expressed in UT and azimuths from south. If they are written for the lay public it would be appropriate to write them in Civil Time and Degrees Magnetic. Converting Degrees True to Degrees Magnetic is no big deal. Planitarium does it on the fly based on the date and the coordinates of the location selected. Most “civilians” wouldn’t know what to do with a UT or azimuth or even that there is a difference between True North and Magnetic North and how to convert between them. So now I know that I have to add 14° to whatever azimuths I get from either application when I am using my bearing compass.
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| 1850 EST | Nautical Twilight ends
Astronomical Twilight begins |
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| 1922 EST | Astronomical Twilight ends |
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Armed with the information that STS-123 Flight Days don’t equate to calendar days and with the actual dates and times of Docking and Undocking, I reevaluated the ISS visual passes. On the front end of the mission there are two passes where the craft will chase one another across the sky, but neither of them is favorable. The first is a one second pass early on the morning of 12Mar08 and the other is the next pass that morning and ISS is only visible for 1m 44s.
| | Start | Max. Alt. | End |
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| Time | 05:09:34 EDT
Docking
-18:18:34 | 05:09:34 EDT | 05:09:34 EDT |
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| Alt. | 10° | 10° | 10° |
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| Alz. | N | N | N |
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| Mag. | 0.8 |
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| | Start | Max. Alt. | End |
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| Time | 06:43:31 EDT
Docking
-16:44:31 | 06:44:38 EDT | 06:45:45 EDT |
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| Alt. | 10° | 12° | 10° |
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| Alz. | NNW | N | NNE |
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| Mag. | 0.5 |
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On the tail end of the mission there is one pass that is a little more favorable but the craft separate quickly after undocking so probably won’t be close together by then. That pass is on the evening of 25Mar08 and is visible for 2m 04s.
| | Start | Max. Alt. | End |
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| Time | 20:02:38 EDT
Undocking +24:07:42 | 20:04:26 EDT | 20:04:42 EDT |
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| Alt. | 10° | 16° | 15° |
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| Alz. | S | SE | SE |
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| Mag. | -0.5 |
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All of these passes are low on the horizon.
It is possible that the ISS still needs to go through an orbit boost maneuver and that the times of visible passes will change as a result of it.
