The FastDay Forum

It's there again, just to the left of the moon and down a bit.

WOW that was particularly good, but what was the little one following it?

Amazing experience thanks again @breadandwine got the hubby interested last night and he reminded me tonight.

It'll be around for the next couple of weeks - and future views should be a lot brighter. Nice to get two clear days together.

WOW that was particularly good, but what was the little one following it?

Didn't notice that, Annie! I saw the last US resupply vessel last year sometime, but I've see nothing since. Did you see anything, Sue?

No I never saw anything following.
It was a brilliant fly over sparkling from the moons glow
and very clear here but nothing behind.

[carieoates]

Sorry, but could you remind me where I have to look again. Will be armed with iPhone and in my mums attic room on the side of a valley in lancs. Thanks

Hi Caroline

Check out this website which will tell you when to look, and also in which direction.

Then go to the main page and click on 'Set your custom location'.

As a rough guide it appears in the West and disappears in the East, taking around 10 minutes in transit. It varies between low in the Southern sky, to overhead - well at least for Southern England.

HTH! B&W

[carieoates]

Thanks B&W I've downloaded the app. Had a wee lesson, 10.39. I shall be looking to 263 W I hope.
App is great as it uses gps to set your current location.

What a stroke of luck. I'm hoping that what I saw was the space station.

Was definitely something following it last night, I commented to @Minigill about it

Hadn't looked for it before, so went down to the beach to look last night, quite cool to see it track across the moon as well.

Have signed up to the NASA email list for timings as well.

John

Can't find information about last night's satellites but there is no current supply mission to ISS. There are dozens of satellites visible around the time of tonight's bright ISS pass at 21:50, only Cosmos 44 will be near the path of ISS but it is much dimmer and definitely would not be following the same track. Heavens Above website publishes data for all the visible satellites if you are interested...

Cheers CP

This def looked like something on exactly the same track, looking far smaller, reddish orange, and about 10-15 seconds behind.

I was on the phone to Gill as I watched it, and said at the same time. However she couldn't see, as she had cloud cover.

Almost like someone running for a bus, IYGWIM.

John

UK ISS Pass details for April 2014


ISS Long Exposure photo of a visible ISS pass Credit: Mark Humpage
The International Space Station (ISS) is back over UK skies with some great passes during April 2014.

The ISS is the largest Space Station/ laboratory ever built orbiting the Earth, it can be spotted with the naked eye at certain times as it orbits the planet at 17500mph at an altitude of roughly 200 miles.

Spotting the station is very easy and you don't need any special equipment, only your eyes.

Check out the Beginners Guide to Seeing the ISS to learn how easy it is to spot sailing over. You can also see this great guide on how to watch and photograph the ISS.

All you need to know is; when and where the ISS will be passing over your location, luckily the United Kingdom (British Isles) is small enough for most of us who live there to see bright ISS passes at the same time. Neighboring countries can see the station pass over at roughly the same time also.

Only bright passes are included in the predictions and the fainter, less easy ones have been left out.

The table below gives approximate ISS pass times and basic information, this will help you spot the station as it passes over.

Only bright passes which can be seen from the UK are listed and the information is approximate. Timings may differ by a few seconds, dependent on observer's location. Times may change at short notice if the Station performs an orbital boost and changes its orbit. All Timings are local time.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of time, get your cameras ready and enjoy the ISS as it passes over in April and keep your eyes peeled for meteors, satellites and other objects too, they will be visible most nights!

Good luck and clear skies.....

ISS bright UK pass details for April 2014

Enjoy watching the ISS as it passes over.

Date Approximate Brightness of the ISS ISS Rises 10° over the horizon (start time) ISS Approaches From (start direction) ISS Highest Point ISS Sets/ Goes into Earths Shadow (direction) ISS Goes into Earths Shadow Approximate ISS Pass Details
07 April 2014 Bright 21:05 SW 21:08 ESE 21:08 Low Pass
08 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:52 WSW 21:55 SSE 21:55 Medium Altitude Pass, fades overhead
09 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:03 SW 21:06 S 21:09 Medium Altitude Pass
10 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:51 WSW 21:54 E 21:55 Overhead Pass, disappears before horizon
11 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:02 WSW 21:05 SSE 21:08 Overhead Pass
11 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 22:38 W 22:41 W 22:41 Short Pass, fades before zenith
12 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:49 W 21:52 E 21:54 Overhead Pass, fades before horizon
13 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:00 W 21:03 E 21:06 Overhead Pass
13 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 22:37 W 22:39 WSW 22:39 Short Pass, fades before zenith
14 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:48 W 21:51 E 21:52 Overhead Pass, fades before horizon
15 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 20:58 W 21:02 E 21:05 Overhead Pass
15 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 22:35 W 22:38 SW 22:38 Short Pass, fades before zenith
16 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:46 W 21:49 E 21:50 Overhead Pass, fades before horizon
17 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 20:57 W 21:00 ESE 21:03 Overhead Pass
17 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 22:34 W 22:36 SW 22:36 Medium short Pass
18 April 2014 Incredibly Bright 21:44 W 21:47 SE 21:49 Medium Altitude Pass
19 April 2014 Bright 20:55 W 20:58 SW 21:01 Overhead Pass
19 April 2014 Bright 22:33 W 22:34 SW 22:34 Short Low Pass
20 April 2014 Bright 21:43 W 21:45 SE 21:47 Medium Low Pass
21 April 2014 Bright 20:53 W 20:56 S 20:59 Medium Pass
23 April 2014 Bright 20:52 W 20:54 S 20:58 Low Pass
THE ISS WILL RETURN TO UK EVENING SKIES JUNE 2014

Data obtained using NORAD Two Line Elements.

Twitter was suggesting the second smaller object was indeed a delivery truck which docked later last night :0)

@fixedwheel: Found it at last - you would have seen the unmanned Russian space truck Progress on its way to docking with the ISS at 22:14 BST yesterday. I reckon you have been very lucky to see this happening.

There is another vehicle due to visit on April 14th but I don't know if this will be conveniently visible - Progress only takes 6 hours from launch to docking!

Wow! And wow again! Thanks for piecing all this info together, guys - and especially Azureblue for all that valuable stuff.

Gutted I missed the resupply vehicle! I'll be paying close attention on the 14th.

Two passes coming up - first one at 2012, a bit lower in the sky than last night (may be too light to see this one clearly), then again at 2148 , overhead Bristol and London.

@fixedwheel: Found it at last - you would have seen the unmanned Russian space truck Progress on its way to docking with the ISS at 22:14 BST yesterday. I reckon you have been very lucky to see this happening.

There is another vehicle due to visit on April 14th but I don't know if this will be conveniently visible - Progress only takes 6 hours from launch to docking!

WOW how FAB is that, that's what we saw then. AMAZING!!!