Watch the skies for the Shuttle and ISS tonight

[pokerfan]

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/04/06/watch-the-skies-for-the-shuttle-and-iss">Watch the skies for the Shuttle and ISS

The Space Shuttle Discovery launched successfully yesterday, and it’s on its way to the International Space Station. It will dock with ISS tomorrow, April 7.

Until then, the Orbiter has to play catch up, slowly changing its orbit until it matches the station’s. The thing is, you may be able to watch this unfold! Both the Orbiter and the ISS are easily visible to the unaided eye, and in fact the station is potentially the fourth brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, Moon, and Venus). As they approach each other, you can see them as bright(ish) 'stars' moving rapidly across the sky.

[tridim]

1. Saw it last time around. Probably the coolest IFO's I've ever seen.

It was so cool because I could trace the arc and judge the spin of the Earth just based on the motion of the ISS and shuttle. It was also fun to know the exact second they would come over the horizon, my neighbors didn't believe me until they saw it with their own eyes. :)