Re: Is Shuttle Visible By Self-Illumination?
Tony Beresford (starman@camtech.net.au)
Thu, 03 Dec 1998 11:47:26 +1000
At 19:34 2/12/98 EST, JMason001@aol.com wrote:
>Since there are EVAs planned for overnight (for those of us in the Western
>Hemisphere) and since there are no "normal" (lit by the sun) visual shuttle
>passes at my location for most of the mission, I was wondering if the shuttle
>payload bay lights are bright enough to be seen with binoculars.
With full illumination the answer is yes Jim. I have seen the Shuttle
by its paload bay lights. During the first flight of Adelaide-born
astronaut Andy Thomas, on orbit 2 , it made a near overhead pass over
Adelaide, and was in a mode where the payload bay was pointed towards
the Earth. It was mag 7, or so and travelling at high angular velocity.
For predictions use a programme which gives RA & Dec for objects inside
the shadow like quicksat in ignore shadow test mode, so you can locate
it on the star background.
Tony Beresford