Space Station Viewing Opportunity

An even better opportunity on Thursday if the sky is clear...

I'm a star gazer nerd and there is a droid app that is right up your alley if you want to see the ISS among a million other things.  It is called Satellite AR.  I'm sure there is a version or similar app for iPhone as well.

The app works in the same way as the Google Sky Map (holding your phone at the sky and it identifies the stars in picture).  Rather than identifying stars, it identifies any man made object in orbit.  It will show flight path, name, duration it will be visible or time until it becomes visible.  You can filter by "all currently visible objects", amateur radio satellites, satellites by company/ purpose, and the ISS.

Basically if you are looking up at the sky and you see that little tiny speck of light crossing the sky and you've always wondered what that satellite is, open the app, point your phone at it and it tells you its name.  When I do it, I get the name then hit up wikipedia to find out exactly what it is.  Some nights the sky will look like a traffic jam and you also will be surprised (well maybe not) as to how much junk we have floating around up there. lol  It identifies everything from the booster/rocket that carried a satellite into orbit and is still floating around up there to the ISS.

My most notable finds have been the ISS, ocean mapping satellite, and an actual "spy" satellite launched in the late 60's that is still floating around.

It's a lot of fun on clear nights because there is ALWAYS something in view.  My nieces and nephews always want me to go outside with them when I visit and use it.

It does.  Currently Iridium 41[+] (in the high northern sky) and Iridium 75 [+] (moving just along the western horizon at the moment) are in view.

There are 34 classes of satellites it tracks.  Everything from Sirius XM and DIRECTV to geodatic survey, GPS, and search and rescue satellites.  It also has a complete database if you are wanting to locate a specific type of satellite.

It also will filter its list of searchable satellites by showing only satellites launched within the last 30 days.  Some nights I will see nothing but boosters and launch vehicles or a COSMOS hull and other nights I will see some unique ones.  

Time: Thu Apr 25 8:41 PM, Visible: 3 min, Max Height: 84 degrees, Appears: NW, Disappears: SE

that was a great viewing

If you happen to be up in the morning at 4:39, another great opportunity. 

Then another Thursday night at 8:29. 
And if you're really die-hard...

(URL for any time, any place http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/) 

Time: Mon Aug 26 7:59 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 87 degrees, Appears: NW, Disappears: SE

No clouds and just dark enough.   Very nice.

Time: Mon Jun 02 9:39 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 64 degrees, Appears: SW, Disappears: NE

Time: Mon Aug 25 8:10 PM, Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 50 degrees, Appears: W, Disappears: SSE