We were in Death Valley over the weekend and there was a ranger-led satellite-watching event in the parking lot of the visitor's center Saturday night. 193 was first up and was very bright. Our 6-year-old was the first to spot the ISS/shuttle combo as it cleared the trees a couple minutes later. Pretty good turnout - maybe 50 people. Seeing wasn't the best - bright moon, parking-lot lamps and light pollution from nearby DV ranch had the sky pretty bright. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:
193 was nothing like it was last evening.
Last evening it was in the SE and very bright.
Tonight it was in the SW so I expected it to be dimmer and it was. Unfortunately it was a lot dimmer.
I'm hearing it has now started to tumble as it flirts with the upper
atmosphere and that was evident tonight.
I was only able to see it briefly when it rotated and flared near the
end of the pass. Then faded quickly from view. Only visible for maybe 3 seconds.
Moving very fast.
Tonight was probably the last time we'll see it from here. Heavens Above calls for passes the next two nights but they'll also in the west (bad news for an evening pass) and much lower.
Let's hope Rob gets to see the debris train. If I understand the times correctly it'll still be light at Maui but some on SeeSat are speculating it could be bright enough to be visible.
patrick
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