Earlier this morning, Art Glick asked: > > I have just learned that approximately 6 hours and 14 minutes after the > Shuttle is scheduled to undock from the ISS, it will make a very nearly > overhead pass here, and I'm wondering what the apparent distance will be > between them at this time. > < ... stuff deleted ... > > > In particular, I'd be very interested in knowing what some of you would > expect to see in terms of the amount of separation between the two objects. > The problem is that we don't know exactly what the ISS and STS' orbital elements will be like 1.5 days in the future. The NASA website: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/elements has predicted elements for the remainder of the STS-110 mission and gives, for tomorrow evening (EDT): STS110 1 27413U 02018A 02107.88245779 .00071000 00000-0 10050-3 0 9041 2 27413 51.6357 355.8819 0009603 343.5190 16.5651 15.58512204 1433 ISS 1 25544U 98067A 02108.07491017 .00070138 00000-0 83646-3 0 9045 2 25544 51.6360 354.9209 0007701 352.0218 8.0813 15.58001937 4699 Using these elements, and Rob Matson's SkyMap program for your assumed coordinates, I find (all times being EDT on Wednesday 2002 April 17): 20:48:23 Shuttle at 85 degs elevation, 222 degs azimuth (SW) 20:48:29 ISS at 85 degs elevation, 223 degs azimuth, the two objects being six degrees apart. Using the same input data, Mike McCants' quicksat program gives essentially the same result: 20:48:24 Shuttle at 86/218 20:48:30 ISS at 86/218 Of course, when just 4-5 degrees from the zenith, "differences" of 5-6 degrees in azimuth are insignificant :) In all, the biggest uncertainty is the lack of an accurate crystal ball to give the future orbital elements. Clear and dark skies! Ed Light Lakewood, NJ, USA N 40.1075, W 074.2312, +24 m (80 ft) PS: From my location, the same passes described above will be just 33 degrees above my SW horizon; Art should have a spectacular view! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 16 2002 - 09:48:07 EDT