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International Space Station


Speedo1968

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1 hour ago, Speedo1968 said:

In the evening sky around 6pm the ISS has just passed overhead and setting towards the WSW, i.e following the setting sun.

Was this last night?  This week, the ISS is either in the general NW quadrant (evening), generally passing from WNW to N, or in the general SW quadrant (early morning), generally passing from WSW to S, and not heading in the direction of sunset.  The NASA website doesn't allow Khon Kaen to be entered as a viewing point, but the data for Bangkok is:

image.png.6336749a39a3853b0d874db70ab92a1c.png

Although the sighting angles will be different for Khon Kaen, the direction of travel will be the same. and are confirmed by the ISS detector app for my own location in Buriram province.  No visible sightings are given after the 20th, due to it either passing over in daylight hours, or at night when there is no reflected sunlight making it visible.  Though it may well have been visible around 18:00 on the 21st, it shouldn't have been setting in the WSW direction.

 

A CYGNUS supply craft was launched on November 2nd, and is still in orbit.  The NASA site gives the following sightings for it:

image.png.029988b54c22f510119081363230523a.png

This may be what you saw following the ISS, though the sighting times don't really suggest they'd both be visible travelling in the same direction at the same time.

 

(Edit):  The NASA site: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=Thailand&region=None&city=Bangkok#.XddaNEBuKHs

 

 

Edited by ballpoint
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22 hours ago, ballpoint said:

Was this last night?  This week, the ISS is either in the general NW quadrant (evening), generally passing from WNW to N, or in the general SW quadrant (early morning), generally passing from WSW to S, and not heading in the direction of sunset.  The NASA website doesn't allow Khon Kaen to be entered as a viewing point, but the data for Bangkok is:

image.png.6336749a39a3853b0d874db70ab92a1c.png

Although the sighting angles will be different for Khon Kaen, the direction of travel will be the same. and are confirmed by the ISS detector app for my own location in Buriram province.  No visible sightings are given after the 20th, due to it either passing over in daylight hours, or at night when there is no reflected sunlight making it visible.  Though it may well have been visible around 18:00 on the 21st, it shouldn't have been setting in the WSW direction.

 

A CYGNUS supply craft was launched on November 2nd, and is still in orbit.  The NASA site gives the following sightings for it:

image.png.029988b54c22f510119081363230523a.png

This may be what you saw following the ISS, though the sighting times don't really suggest they'd both be visible travelling in the same direction at the same time.

 

(Edit):  The NASA site: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=Thailand&region=None&city=Bangkok#.XddaNEBuKHs

 

 

Many thanks 'ballpoint' for taking the time to post such clear information for me ( and others ).

It certainly helps me to understand better.
Will need to check dates but my viewing and visibility often lasts longer than the 6mins or so stated

visibility.

I certainly saw two separate objects that remained clear for a long time.
Will come back to you again if I may.

 

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On 11/20/2019 at 6:09 PM, emptypockets said:

Back in the nineties the ISS did an experiment towing a device through the magnetic field of the earth. Maybe that device is still orbiting behind the ISS. If nothing has been done to change its trajectory it may still be there. I saw it in maybe 1995/6/7 or sometime around then.

That is long gone. 

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Looked again at ISS last night Saturday from beginning of sunset ( beautiful ) until 7pm.

Positions of both objects had changed from my original sightings a few days ago.

Now the ISS and its 'companion' had changed places with the smaller object now in front of the ISS.

They looked to be closer together ( half the distance of first viewing ), the ISS below and to the left.
Both slightly more westward than a few days ago.

Where I live I get clear views of the ISS in early winter where it travels from the east each day passing overhead, as of this time of year it always moves more westward.

 

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I used the ISS tracker to see it a while ago as it tracked across the sky .  I took my Thai Mother-in-Law out to look at it.  I explained as best I could, in my broken Thai, that it was not an aircraft, but was in fact in orbit around the earth.  She looked at me, laughed, said something to my wife in Issan, to the effect that ' this chap is crazy, or drunk and is having  a mental breakdown' and went back to her food and beer. chuckling as she went.  

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On 11/21/2019 at 2:18 PM, Moonlover said:

I've already anticipated your interest. See my post #16. I love watching ISS myself, but I'e never seen this 'double image' effect. ISS can be seen, from the observer's view point, to rise in the NW and travel SE or rise in the SW and travel NE. It depends on which phase of its orbit you're seeing.

 

By the way, have you seen Venus & Jupiter in the evening sky, just after sunset?

Sorry for delay in this response, where to look for Venus and Jupiter ?

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21 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

Sorry for delay in this response, where to look for Venus and Jupiter ?

In the west, evening sky, just after sunset, Venus is the brighter of the two. Also above them, about the length of your hand, if you hold it in front of you, is Saturn.

 

I think you might be getting ISS confused with another orbiting body. Easy to do. You said that it was traveling in a westerly direction. It doesn't do that. It always has an easterly component.

 

Basically you'll see it rise in the south east and head toward the north west, or rise in the north east and head toward the south west. Always to the west.

 

Happy stargazing.

 

Edited by Moonlover
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On 11/20/2019 at 1:55 PM, SWW said:

Sometimes the astronauts on board the ISS will be active on amateur radio (144MHz or 433MHz band), and with a relatively small antenna and even a handheld radio receiver, you can hear them. If you have an amateur radio licence and a transceiver instead of a receiver (but still just a handheld), you can even talk to them yourself. With some more advanced equipment you can receive pictures, etc.

Yes, I'm a radio ham (licenced in the UK, Thailand, Burma and now Laos).  From my location in north Laos, I can receive the SSTV pictures from the ISS, as well as weather images from satellites.

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10 hours ago, Moonlover said:

In the west, evening sky, just after sunset, Venus is the brighter of the two. Also above them, about the length of your hand, if you hold it in front of you, is Saturn.

 

I think you might be getting ISS confused with another orbiting body. Easy to do. You said that it was traveling in a westerly direction. It doesn't do that. It always has an easterly component.

 

Basically you'll see it rise in the south east and head toward the north west, or rise in the north east and head toward the south west. Always to the west.

 

Happy stargazing.

 

Thanks for the planet info.
Perhaps I cannot see it's earlier position in the sky but it doesn't seem to move towards the north west, it is moving down below south of the setting sun.
Have checked rough positions with a compass.

If I am not seeing the ISS + it's companion what am I seeing ?

Yesterday, Sunday, the objects positions were the almost the same as Saturday.

Today, Monday, the positions have changed with the smaller object to the right ( 2metres ! ) and slightly below the bigger brighter object.
I have seen the larger object for 2 - 3 years now, in early Winter they are to the East South East and lower in the sky, passing overhead within a few hours.   

Really puzzled as to what they are.

 

Edited by Speedo1968
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1 hour ago, Speedo1968 said:

Thanks for the planet info.
Perhaps I cannot see it's earlier position in the sky but it doesn't seem to move towards the north west, it is moving down below south of the setting sun.
Have checked rough positions with a compass.

If I am not seeing the ISS + it's companion what am I seeing ?

Yesterday, Sunday, the objects positions were the almost the same as Saturday.

Today, Monday, the positions have changed with the smaller object to the right ( 2metres ! ) and slightly below the bigger brighter object.
I have seen the larger object for 2 - 3 years now, in early Winter they are to the East South East and lower in the sky, passing overhead within a few hours.   

Really puzzled as to what they are.

 

It sounds to me that you have in fact been seeing Venus and Jupiter. They have been 'traveling companions' for a few weeks now with Jupiter gradually overtaking. Tonight they were in line horizontally, with Venus, the brighter one on the left. Does that match what you saw?

 

Venus has two nicknames. Right now it's called the 'Evening Star'. It then disappears behind the sun and reemerges in the spring as the 'Morning Star'. Obviously, you need to be an early bird to see it then.

 

I'm sure that's what you've been seeing.

 

Edited by Moonlover
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18 hours ago, Moonlover said:

It sounds to me that you have in fact been seeing Venus and Jupiter. They have been 'traveling companions' for a few weeks now with Jupiter gradually overtaking. Tonight they were in line horizontally, with Venus, the brighter one on the left. Does that match what you saw?

 

Venus has two nicknames. Right now it's called the 'Evening Star'. It then disappears behind the sun and reemerges in the spring as the 'Morning Star'. Obviously, you need to be an early bird to see it then.

 

I'm sure that's what you've been seeing.

 

Could be !   NIce to know. 

Does this happen every year at the same time ?

Last year and the year before during the same months there was only one bright object, could this have been a planet or the ISS

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

Could be !   NIce to know. 

Does this happen every year at the same time ?

Last year and the year before during the same months there was only one bright object, could this have been a planet or the ISS

 

 

The cycle is about every 10 months. So in Earth terms it will appear a bit earlier each year. If it has a 'traveling companion' it will be another planet, but it is often seen on its own as well.

 

I remember once, in Egypt that we made a special trip out into the desert to witness the conjunction of 4 planets in the early morning sky.

 

Venus cannot be confused with ISS. That is clearly moving across the sky and is often confused with an aircraft. If you have smart phone or tablet you can download 'ISS Live Now'. This will show its current position (it's just passed over our village!) and predicts when you'll able to view an overfly.

 

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17 hours ago, Moonlover said:

The cycle is about every 10 months. So in Earth terms it will appear a bit earlier each year. If it has a 'traveling companion' it will be another planet, but it is often seen on its own as well.

 

I remember once, in Egypt that we made a special trip out into the desert to witness the conjunction of 4 planets in the early morning sky.

 

Venus cannot be confused with ISS. That is clearly moving across the sky and is often confused with an aircraft. If you have smart phone or tablet you can download 'ISS Live Now'. This will show its current position (it's just passed over our village!) and predicts when you'll able to view an overfly.

 

Apologies to asking another question - the objects look very close, relatively, to earth, as you say almost to being that of an aircraft.   Why are both objects a kind of delta shape, is this refraction of light, in previous years the single object ( planet or ISS ) looked pod shaped but never twisted ?

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This shows what the ISS looks like with the naked eye, and how fast it's travelling:

 

And here's a time lapse of Venus and Jupiter in conjunction.  They do appear to be delta shaped at times, but, even with the time lapse, are still travelling slower than the ISS.  In real time their motion is far slower.  1:23 looks similar to what is described in the OP:

 

Edited by ballpoint
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49 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

Apologies to asking another question - the objects look very close, relatively, to earth, as you say almost to being that of an aircraft.   Why are both objects a kind of delta shape, is this refraction of light, in previous years the single object ( planet or ISS ) looked pod shaped but never twisted ?

Atmospheric distortion or refraction. The atmosphere is rarely perfectly clear and so light passing through it gets bent and distorted.

 

That's why telescopes are built on top of mountains, or like Hubble, set up in outer space.

 

Have a good day.

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Given that the topic here is actually the ISS, not the planets! I recall @Speedo1968 that you live near Khon Kaen, your viewing opportunities to see ISS should be similar to mine. (I'm near Sakon Nakhon)

 

So here some dates for your diary. 12th, 13th (2 times) 14th and the 15th. This is quite normal for them to come in clusters due to what I think is called 'orbital precession' (or something like that!) 

 

If you download the ISS Live Now app it will tell you the exact times and in what direction it will pass over. Then you really will be able to say 'I saw the ISS'.

 

Good luck and happy viewing.

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On 11/25/2019 at 5:42 PM, simon43 said:

Yes, I'm a radio ham (licenced in the UK, Thailand, Burma and now Laos).  From my location in north Laos, I can receive the SSTV pictures from the ISS, as well as weather images from satellites.

XZ2A is that you?? ????

Edited by SWW
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5 hours ago, ballpoint said:

This shows what the ISS looks like with the naked eye, and how fast it's travelling:

 

And here's a time lapse of Venus and Jupiter in conjunction.  They do appear to be delta shaped at times, but, even with the time lapse, are still travelling slower than the ISS.  In real time their motion is far slower.  1:23 looks similar to what is described in the OP:

 

Thank you so much 'ballpoint' for the video clips they have helped me understand what I have been seeing.   

Funnily enough I used to play clips from "The Planets Suite" to my students when I taught privately to help them express feelings and emotions.

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26 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Given that the topic here is actually the ISS, not the planets! I recall @Speedo1968 that you live near Khon Kaen, your viewing opportunities to see ISS should be similar to mine. (I'm near Sakon Nakhon)

 

So here some dates for your diary. 12th, 13th (2 times) 14th and the 15th. This is quite normal for them to come in clusters due to what I think is called 'orbital precession' (or something like that!) 

 

If you download the ISS Live Now app it will tell you the exact times and in what direction it will pass over. Then you really will be able to say 'I saw the ISS'.

 

Good luck and happy viewing.

Yes, about 50km south off the main highway but out of town.

Thanks for the diary dates will keep my eyes to the sky.

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  • 2 weeks later...

OP - Friday 6th December.

The object, ( now only one ) whatever it is is still in the sky.

During the past week it is further away but higher in the sky at the normal observation time 6.0pm.   Roughly the same compass bearing.

Previous weeks during November by 6pm it was lower and almost out of site.

It still looks slightly delta shaped, and just as bright.

Is it still Venus or is it a man made object ?

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Hi @Speedo1968. Have you noticed that Venus has a new travelling companion? Jupiter has now moved on and Venus has been joined by Saturn. Tonight it sits just above her. Amorous little planet isn't she!

 

There are some good ISS sightings coming up soon. Did you get the App I suggested?

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On 11/25/2019 at 6:57 PM, Speedo1968 said:

Thanks for the planet info.
Perhaps I cannot see it's earlier position in the sky but it doesn't seem to move towards the north west, it is moving down below south of the setting sun.
Have checked rough positions with a compass.

If I am not seeing the ISS + it's companion what am I seeing ?

Yesterday, Sunday, the objects positions were the almost the same as Saturday.

Today, Monday, the positions have changed with the smaller object to the right ( 2metres ! ) and slightly below the bigger brighter object.
I have seen the larger object for 2 - 3 years now, in early Winter they are to the East South East and lower in the sky, passing overhead within a few hours.   

Really puzzled as to what they are.

 

 

NASA has 2 useful "Spot the Station" toys.

 

1) Sign up for official alerts from NASA of good ISS sighting times. At:
    https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/signup.cfm
Drag the map background around to Thailand. Click on the box with 3 horizontal lines in the upper left corner of the map and select Thailand as the country, Bangkok as the city (closest to Khon Kaen). Click on the square with the left pointing arrow. Choose e-mail (best for Thailand) or SMS text alerts, enter the rest of the information, SUBMIT.

 

2) Where is the ISS right now?
    https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/tracking_map.cfm

 

 

 

Get an app for your cellphone, if you have one. For Android:
    https://www.space.com/32387-satellite-space-station-skywatching-mobile-apps.html
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.runar.issdetector&hl=en

Unfortunately, I have no Apple toys, so cannot advise about them. ????

 

 

Download and install Stellarium. 0.19.2 is the current Windows version.
    https://stellarium.org/
    https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/releases/download/v0.19.2/stellarium-0.19.2-win64.exe
Launch plain "Stellarium" from the start menu, unless you have an odd graphics card. May be slow starting, the first launch. Defaults to full screen mode, but you can play with the controls and browse the manual. Run the cursor against the left middle edge of the screen, and click on the "Location Window" icon. Scroll down to "Khon Kaen, Thailand" in the list, and click on it, it will stay set from then on. Move the cursor to the bottom center edge, and click on the rightmost icon to exit he program. The fifth icon on the bottom edge turns on "Azimuthal grid". Second icon on the left edge lets you set a particular date and time. Drag the mouse on the background, to change the view direction. In response #40 you say that on Sunday, November 24 about 18:00 you saw the object to the south of the sun, which was setting in the west. The first screenshot of the program is set to this: about 15 degrees up, on the 240 degree line, the column of grid squares after the "SW" direction mark, you can see Jupiter and Venus almost on top of each other. Saturn is just past 30 degrees up, along the 230 degree line. If I have interpreted your response #40 correctly, you are seeing 2 planets, not the ISS. Mystery solved and verified.

 

"Satellite hints" are turned on by default. The last line of ISS sightings in response #32 is for Wednesday, November 20 from 18:11 to 18:14. The bigger an item is shown on the screen, the brighter it is in the sky. In the second screenshot, notice the bright star Vega at 40 degrees up, 310 degrees over: this will help you locate the correct part of the sky, when you are outside on the lane. The fat white object at 20 degrees up, 280 degrees is the ISS. Sit and watch the screen until 18:14, and you will see the ISS move in real time to 20 degrees up, 335 degrees over, as in the third screenshot. Click on the ISS object, and all the information text appears: the ISS is magnitude -1.77, Vega is only magnitude 0 (it's a logarithmic scale, the smaller the number, the brighter the object). Right click on an object to hide all the text again. Venus is magnitude -3.86, Jupiter is magnitude -1.85 and Saturn is dim, only 0.59 in the Sunday screenshot. Sirius (the "soi dog" star, as it's called in Thailand) is the brightest stellar object, at -1.45 magnitude. The moon was -12.12 at that time.

 

18:00 Friday, December 6, as in response #53: in the last screenshot, again we see Venus and Jupiter, not the ISS.

 

Have fun!

 

sign_up.png

where_now.png

screenshot.png

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screenshot3.png

screenshot4.png

Edited by dave s
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1 hour ago, dave s said:

XZ2A? Very short call sign. Did you get your license about the time deForest invented the triode vacuum tube? ????

LoL.  Off-topic, but Burma actually passed a law in 1962 banning ham radio in the country.  From time to time, they would allow foreigners to visit for a week or so and operate temporary ham stations.  When I moved to Burma in 2012, I decided to try to get a permanent ham licence.

 

I 'hassled' the government departments for 6 years, until they were so sick of me that they issued the first resident ham permit since 1962....  The call-sign is short because not many call-signs have been issued since 1962 ????

xz2a.jpg.e5fba955964830e7743b08db284f508c.jpg

 

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The only call sign I know of back home that is this short is KA9Q, Phil Karn. I learned Internet internals by reading his NOS code, on an IBM PC with an Ethernet adapter that must have been much better than sliced bread, because it was much bigger than a loaf thereof. ????

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