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Space Station Supernova
Next week, sky watchers in many US cities can see the space station materialize like a supernova in the early morning sky before sunrise.
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August 28, 2002
The International Space Station (ISS) had just swung around the night side of Earth when astronaut Peggy Whitson looked out the window. The planet below was dark, but Earth's limb was glowing. "It was a thin, bright band of light--at first a deep royal blue, followed by the addition of red and orange," she recalled. "The rays of light seemed to be wrapping their fingers around the planet."
Whitson narrowed her eyes when the Sun finally popped over the distant horizon. It was awfully bright. The station itself, moments earlier dark except for a few glowing windows, lit up from stem to stern reflecting the intense sunshine.
What a sunrise!
Astronauts onboard the space shuttle Atlantis captured this picture of a sunrise from low-Earth orbit on May 29, 2000.
[more] [high res image (0.3M)]
A few hundred kilometers below the space station, sky watchers on Earth could have something nearly as wonderful: a bright star materializing like a supernova in the predawn sky. That's what the ISS looks like (from the ground) when it's hit by rays from the morning Sun. It happens often enough, but most people have never seen it because they don't know when to look.
The first week of Sept. is a good time to try. That's when the ISS will fly over several major US cities before dawn, and if you're outside at the right moment you can spot a "space station supernova." You'll have to wake up early, around 5 o'clock in the morning. At first the starry predawn sky will seem ordinary. The horizon will glow a bit (a hint of the rising Sun) and the yellow-planet Saturn might catch your eye halfway up the eastern sky. Then the space station will appear, gliding eastward into the sunlight high above Earth. It will surge in brightness until it rivals or outshines every other star in the sky.
(Full Story Here)
Cheers,
Dan
Space Station Supernova . . .