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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
(mag) Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
08 Nov-1.621:08:4810°SSW21:11:0717°SSE21:12:3314°ESEvisible
08 Nov-0.722:44:3410°WSW22:45:1215°WSW22:45:1215°WSWvisible
09 Nov-3.221:52:2010°SW21:55:0655°SSW21:55:0655°SSWvisible
10 Nov-2.721:00:2010°SSW21:03:2735°SE21:05:0322°Evisible
10 Nov-0.722:37:2310°W22:37:4312°W22:37:4312°Wvisible
11 Nov-2.821:44:3510°WSW21:47:4237°NW21:47:4237°NWvisible
12 Nov-3.820:52:1210°SW20:55:3485°NW20:57:4520°NEvisible
13 Nov-1.321:37:4110°W21:39:3014°NW21:40:3212°NNWvisible
14 Nov-2.120:44:3110°WSW20:47:2728°NW20:50:2210°NNEvisible
16 Nov-0.820:38:2310°WNW20:39:0911°NW20:39:5410°NWvisible
Passes from Brisbane

Date Brightness Start Highest point End Pass type
(mag) Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
08 Nov-0.420:42:2510°SSW20:42:3311°S20:42:3311°Svisible
09 Nov-1.119:51:3010°SSE19:52:2711°SSE19:52:2711°SSEvisible
10 Nov-1.020:33:5710°SW20:35:0319°SSW20:35:0319°SSWvisible
11 Nov-2.419:42:0710°SSW19:45:0227°SE19:45:0227°SEvisible
12 Nov-1.518:50:4510°S18:52:4114°SE18:54:3510°ESEvisible
12 Nov-1.520:26:0910°WSW20:27:4523°WSW20:27:4523°WSWvisible
13 Nov-3.919:33:4610°SW19:37:0787°SE19:37:5151°NEvisible
14 Nov-2.918:41:4510°SSW18:44:5235°SE18:47:5710°ENEvisible
14 Nov-0.920:19:4410°W20:20:4212°WNW20:20:4212°WNWvisible
15 Nov-2.019:26:0610°WSW19:28:5827°NW19:30:5715°Nvisible
 
 
Passes from Melbourne

Date Brightness Start Highest point End Pass type
(mag) Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
08 Nov-3.021:38:4010°SW21:41:5442°SE21:42:3337°ESEvisible
09 Nov-2.120:46:4410°SSW20:49:3625°SSE20:52:2610°Evisible
09 Nov-2.022:23:0210°WSW22:25:0628°W22:25:0628°Wvisible
10 Nov-3.821:30:4110°SW21:34:0377°NW21:35:0342°NEvisible
11 Nov-3.320:38:3210°SW20:41:5153°SE20:45:0210°ENEvisible
11 Nov-1.222:16:0810°W22:17:4214°WNW22:17:4214°WNWvisible
12 Nov-2.221:23:0310°WSW21:25:5928°NW21:27:4517°Nvisible
14 Nov-1.021:16:4410°WNW21:17:4311°NW21:18:4010°NWvisible
Passes from Perth

Date Brightness Start Highest point End Pass type
(mag) Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
08 Nov-1.220:12:4910°S20:14:1812°SSE20:15:1211°SEvisible
08 Nov-0.221:47:4710°SW21:47:5211°SW21:47:5211°SWvisible
09 Nov-2.120:55:4010°SW20:57:4632°SSW20:57:4632°SSWvisible
10 Nov-2.320:03:4910°SSW20:06:4226°SE20:07:4322°ESEvisible
11 Nov-2.720:47:4610°SW20:50:2242°W20:50:2242°Wvisible
12 Nov-3.819:55:3010°SW19:58:5070°SE20:00:2528°ENEvisible
13 Nov-1.520:40:3810°W20:42:5117°NW20:43:1216°NWvisible
14 Nov-2.619:47:4010°WSW19:50:4636°NW19:53:2313°NNEvisible
16 Nov-1.019:40:5710°W19:42:2913°NW19:44:0210°NNWvisible

Passes from Sydney


Date Brightness Start Highest point End Pass type
(mag) Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
08 Nov-2.021:40:2510°SSW21:42:3330°S21:42:3330°Svisible
09 Nov-2.020:48:3610°SSW20:51:2123°SE20:52:2719°ESEvisible
09 Nov-0.522:24:5210°WSW22:25:0611°WSW22:25:0611°WSWvisible
10 Nov-1.319:57:0510°S19:58:5714°SSE20:00:4810°ESEvisible
10 Nov-2.921:32:2510°SW21:35:0349°WSW21:35:0349°WSWvisible
11 Nov-3.420:40:1610°SW20:43:3454°SE20:45:0228°ENEvisible
12 Nov-1.921:24:5810°WSW21:27:3922°NW21:27:4522°NWvisible
13 Nov-3.120:32:1910°WSW20:35:3549°NW20:37:5117°NNEvisible
15 Nov-1.320:25:0310°W20:27:2117°NW20:29:3810°Nvisible
   
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.

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