STS-114 Launch Sun Transit

From: Gerhard HOLTKAMP (grd.holtkamp@t-online.de)
Date: Fri Jul 22 2005 - 15:15:29 EDT

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    With the launch of Discovery now scheduled for 26-JUL-05 a transit of the 
    Shuttle and the External Tank in front of the Sun could be observed between 
    18 and 30 minutes after launch along a line from Southern Ireland; South 
    Wales; just South of London; close to Lille, France; Heidelberg, Germany; a 
    little North East of Graz, Austria; Istanbul, Turkey and ending near Kuwait.  
    
    The challenge of the observation is that you have to be very close to the 
    central line (within 1.5 km on the British Isles to within 3 km in Turkey) in 
    order to see the transit. This is probably on the same order as the launch 
    injection error. Also the transit is very short (0.4 sec on the British 
    Isles, lengthening to about 1 sec in Turkey). Once NASA posts pre-launch MECO 
    elements a more accurate calculation would be possible but even then being at 
    the right spot would not guarantee success due to the launch injection error. 
    
    Given these rather poor chances of seeing the event let me know if anybody 
    wants to make an attempt to observe it in which case I would come up with a 
    more detailed analysis.
    
    Gerhard HOLTKAMP
    Darmstadt, Germany
    
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