Did I just see the ISS?
Monday, June 28, 2010
The ISS is especially visible at the moment as its course is now taking it along the area between day and night, and this results in a lot of sightings per day as well as extra visibility due to the sunlight reflecting off it. It's 7:40 pm here in Seoul, and I left the house for a bit to see a sighting that was supposed to happen now:
Date | Starts | Max. Altitude | Ends | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | Time | Alt. | Az. | |
26 Jun | 03:44:37 | 10 | NW | 03:47:26 | 43 | NNE | 03:50:20 | 10 | ESE |
26 Jun | 05:21:00 | 10 | W | 05:22:32 | 13 | SW | 05:24:05 | 10 | SSW |
26 Jun | 20:11:33 | 10 | SSW | 20:14:04 | 27 | SE | 20:16:36 | 10 | ENE |
26 Jun | 21:46:58 | 10 | W | 21:49:23 | 23 | NNW | 21:51:50 | 10 | NNE |
27 Jun | 02:36:30 | 10 | NNW | 02:38:39 | 18 | NNE | 02:40:48 | 10 | ENE |
27 Jun | 04:11:18 | 10 | WNW | 04:14:07 | 43 | SW | 04:16:58 | 10 | SSE |
27 Jun | 20:37:45 | 10 | WSW | 20:40:34 | 66 | NW | 20:43:32 | 10 | NE |
27 Jun | 22:15:36 | 10 | NW | 22:16:27 | 11 | NNW | 22:17:19 | 10 | N |
28 Jun | 03:02:38 | 10 | NW | 03:05:29 | 50 | NE | 03:08:25 | 10 | ESE |
28 Jun | 04:39:30 | 10 | WSW | 04:40:32 | 11 | SW | 04:41:33 | 10 | SSW |
28 Jun | 19:29:26 | 10 | SSW | 19:32:04 | 32 | SE | 19:34:43 | 10 | ENE |
(the one at the bottom - see heavens-above.com for passes over your area)
but it's still quite bright right now and a bit hazy so I didn't expect a sighting. I did notice something that looked like an airplane though...and it happened to traverse the exact same route the ISS was supposed to, vanishing at exactly 7:35 pm. The last time I saw the ISS was around February 2009, and since then there has been quite a bit of construction:
- New solar arrays (these are the biggest change in terms of visibility)
- Japanese Exposed Facility
- Poisk
- ExPRESS Logistics Carrier
- Cupola, Tranquility (Node 3)
- Rassvet
So maybe it was the ISS. Seoul will have another pass in two hours so assuming the weather is clear enough I'll find out then whether the ISS has really become this visible over the past year and a half.