HOME | DD

WilliamRichards — ISS, Castor, and Pollux 9-15-18

#castor #gemini #internationalspacestation #iss #night #pollux #space #stars
Published: 2018-10-29 21:08:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 128; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description This morning I was going outside to look at Orion's Belt, but I noticed an ISS pass was going to occur which would take it within the vicinity of Pollux and Castor. So I set my telescope for Orion and my camera for Gemini. As my camera recorded, I followed the ISS along with my binoculars. It seems "big" so I jumped over to Procyon to check my focus. Procyon was a pin-point so I jumped back over to the ISS... still clearly more than just a moving dot in the sky. After the pass finished, I ran inside to do some math. Based on the ISS's size of 109 meters by 73 meters, and its closest approach this morning of 441,000 meters, I calculated that it had an apparent diameter of 50.9 arc seconds by 34.1 arc seconds (for comparison, big ole Jupiter had an apparent diameter of 44.8 arc seconds at opposition this year). I resolved the international Space Station with 10x50 binoculars.
Related content
Comments: 0