Fifth Avenue Forum

Does anyone-her use the ISS Detector app?

Does anyone-her use the ISS Detector app?

I use "Heavens Above". It tracks all man-made satellites, including the ISS. Great app.

I have not. But speaking of apps, SpaceX released a free "game" that simulates ISS docking. Supposedly this represents the actual touchscreen interface that the Crew Dragon uses for docking controls.

https://iss-sim.spacex.com/

A 'strawberry-moon' lunar eclipse will occur Friday night — here's how to see it

https://www.businessinsider.com/see-str ... day-2020-6

June's full moon — also known as the "strawberry moon" because it comes during strawberry season — might look a little darker than normal on Friday.

That's because many parts of the world will be able to see a celestial event known as a partial penumbral eclipse, when part of the moon moves through the Earth's outer shadow. This makes a chunk of the moon appear dimmer.

The strawberry-moon eclipse will be visible above Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa. People in the US won't see it but can watch the event via livestream.

The moon will be at its fullest on Friday at 3:12 p.m. ET, and the Virtual Telescope Project is set to livestream the eclipse from Italy starting at 3 p.m. ET, as the moon dims above Rome's skyline.

So I was given an old polaris (Meade?) reflecting telescope. Gonna give it a try today. It seems like it's missing a couple things... Motor of some sort and fine tune adjustment. But I have the finder scope aligned with the main lens and it's level and balanced. So guess we'll see what we can take a looksie at tonight up air

So I was given an old polaris (Meade?) reflecting telescope. Gonna give it a try today. It seems like it's missing a couple things... Motor of some sort and fine tune adjustment. But I have the finder scope aligned with the main lens and it's level and balanced. So guess we'll see what we can take a looksie at tonight up air

Nice! I've thought about getting one of those with the motor that tracks the object, but in most cases you are trading magnification/viewing power for convenience. There's something awesome about finding objects (galaxies/clusters/nebulae) with the viewfinder and a star map.

I tried using it last night and like couldn't see much of anything. I found a few stars but they still looked pretty tiny in the viewfinder.

What a beautiful shot

What a beautiful shot

Thank you! Did not expect to see my beloved Juniata River ITT but happy it is.

Cast this to your TV if you have 4k.

SpaceX was prepping for another Starlink launch tomorrow, but that's now been scrubbed to check for a minor oxygen leak in the Falcon 9's engine bay. This would be the fifth launch for Falcon 9 booster 1051. The Starlink launch will now likely take place after the GPS 3 launch for the Air Force, which is scheduled for June 30. SpaceX will be launching the third third-generation navigation satellite for the global GPS system.

In a similar vein, a couple days ago a Chinese Long March 3 rocket successfully launched the final satellite for the BeiDou 3 satellite system, which is China's version of GPS. BeiDou is the Chinese name for the Big Dipper.

I have been on an Apollo 13 kick lately...this is a great interview with Jim Lovell from earlier this year. What a human.

Ars Technica has an article on the Russian Angara rocket. The Angara is a modular launcher that is supposed to replace the Proton rocket as a medium/heavy lift vehicle in its multi-core version and also replace some of the smaller launchers like Rokot in its single-core version. Angara has been in development since the late 1990s and has only flown two test launches to date. By way of comparison, SpaceX was incorporated in 2002 and conducted its first Falcon 1 launch in 2006, which means that Angara has been in development for years longer than SpaceX has existed.

Russia’s replacement for the Proton rocket costs way too much
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/06 ... -strategy/

Rocket Labs unfortunately suffered its first mission failure earlier today. The 13th mission of the Electron Rocket, dubbed "Pics Or It Didn't Happen," was carrying seven satellites: five SuperDove satellites for the imaging company Planet, as well as one satellite each for Canon Electronics and In-Space Missions. The launch appeared to be going normally though liftoff, stage separation, second-stage ignition, and fairing separation. Something went wrong during the second-stage burn at close to T+6 minutes. There was a loss of the video signal simultaneous with velocity decreasing in value, indicating a loss of thrust. The telemetry appeared to be still coming through, so it probably wasn't an explosion or something highly vigorous.

I will be watching tomorrow morning! We have viewed the rockets launching from our back deck, pretty amazing.

Finally caught a glimpse of the ISS overhead. Crazy! Going to try and get it in the telescope next time.

Does anyone-her use the ISS Detector app?

A little late but...
I do use this app. The pro version was only a couple of bucks and I've been using it for about 4-5 years now. It's a great little app. iss went right over my house a couple nights ago right before the kids bedtime. We were out there watching it fly by.

When I was a kid I remember going camping and looking at the night sky right after dark and seeing a bunch of little lights moving around. They were all manner of satellite and there was no way of knowing which ones they were or when they would be back. It's crazy the amount of information that we have access to now.

Tried to see the NEOWISE comet last night but was either blocked by houses and trees, low clouds, or both. Hopefully we get a clear evening soon, may need to head to the soccer fields.

https://www.space.com/comet-neowise-vis ... -2020.html

Does anyone-her use the ISS Detector app?

A little late but...
I do use this app. The pro version was only a couple of bucks and I've been using it for about 4-5 years now. It's a great little app. iss went right over my house a couple nights ago right before the kids bedtime. We were out there watching it fly by.

When I was a kid I remember going camping and looking at the night sky right after dark and seeing a bunch of little lights moving around. They were all manner of satellite and there was no way of knowing which ones they were or when they would be back. It's crazy the amount of information that we have access to now.

Is there a tutorial or something built in? Cos I am......... having..... difficulty. I don't know how it works.

So pissed off...I was all excited to watch the Minotaur launch yesterday morning, and remembered at 9:10. FFFFFFFFF.

@mac5155 Awesome you saw the ISS! I have recommended this to others, but highly highly recommend the Heavens Above app for sky watchers. It shows every single man-made object that will be passing over your location, and it is really cool to watch second-stage rockets go by from several decades ago. You can Google the names of the objects to learn more about them.

Honestly, you won't see much with a telescope on the ISS, at least right away. For starters, it moves so quickly through the sky that it will be virtually impossible to get a clear shot as you will have to be moving the scope constantly. It takes a lot of practice. That said, I have heard some success stories.

Does anyone-her use the ISS Detector app?

A little late but...
I do use this app. The pro version was only a couple of bucks and I've been using it for about 4-5 years now. It's a great little app. iss went right over my house a couple nights ago right before the kids bedtime. We were out there watching it fly by.

When I was a kid I remember going camping and looking at the night sky right after dark and seeing a bunch of little lights moving around. They were all manner of satellite and there was no way of knowing which ones they were or when they would be back. It's crazy the amount of information that we have access to now.

Is there a tutorial or something built in? Cos I am......... having..... difficulty. I don't know how it works.

Download the Heavens Above app. Seriously. Being the aeronautics nerd I know you are like me, you will love all of the other stuff you can track BESIDES the ISS on there. It is super easy to use and it shows the exact path across the sky overlaid on a star chart, with exact times, magnitudes, etc.

Okay, thanks for that, Shaf. I'll give it a go.

It's always impressive just how quickly the all-solid launch vehicles accelerate. The Minotaur IV hit Mach 1 in about than 20 seconds and was going Mach 3 in less than a minute.

ISS pretty much directly overhead tonight. Nice nite. How can you get a closer look? My binoculars didn't do sht

ISS pretty much directly overhead tonight. Nice nite. How can you get a closer look? My binoculars didn't do sht

It’ll be moving somewhat quickly. Hard to trace with hand magnification