Thanks for those who sent emails to the list and to me personally commenting on this topic. Firstly I have been corrected that I should refer to an occultation rather than a transit in reference to the Moon and Mars. However in any event apparently the separation between these will be around 2 degrees as seen from my location- this was not clear from the sky chart in the ISS predictions on Heavens Above, but is evident from the general whole sky chart. Also allowing for drag it may be a "near miss" at my location. I will be checking closer to the time for any suitable locations where transit of Mars or the moon will in fact occur.. Even allowing for correction of inaccuracies the observation of all three in close proximity will be interesting even if there is no transit (and perhaps has additional significance in view of the closeness of Mars to Earth at the time.) As a matter of interest civil twilight commences at the time of the pass. Robert. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Holdsworth" <robbonz1@xtra.co.nz> To: "Seesat Explosive Address" <SeeSat-L@satobs.org> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 10:29 PM Subject: ISS/lunar/Mars transit > At this stage a lunar transit of ISS is predicted for my location on 13 > August at 18:48:13 UTC (local time is UTC plus 12) when it appears there > will also be a lunar transit of Mars or at least they will be in very close > proximity. Naturally weather permitting I will have the camera ready. > However locally hills make observation difficult from the appropriate > direction and at the predicted elevation of the ISS, Mars and the moon at > the time. (Weather conditions have also been quite variable recently owing > to cloud as we pass from winter towards spring.) > > It also happens to be the second reasonably bright pass of ISS that morning > (not to mention the bonus of very bright double Iridium flares half an hour > or so later!) > > I will of course be monitoring predictions and notifying relevant contacts > but if you know any observers in the Wellington/Wairarapa area of New > Zealand you may wish to alert them. > > Acknowledgements to Thomas Fly's transit predictions and Heavens-Above for > alerting me to this event. > > I also mentioned recently that I had a photograph of ISS in the vicinity of > Mars. The photo has been scanned but owing to a glitch is not yet > available- I am working on it! It was taken with no magnification so I am > unsure whether or not it will be any use in showing the attitude of the > spacecraft at the time. (ISS is still in XPOP at the present time > according to the latest status report on spaceref.com- the report also > makes interesting reading concerning a major power system failure.) > > (Also how much lower will the ISS be allowed to drop before the next boost- > especially bearing in mind the high geomagnetic activity?!- any comments on > what is the lowest safe altitude?) > > Robert Holdsworth > Wainuiomata > New Zealand > 41.2610°S, 174.9470°E > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' > in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org > List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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