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Many people in North America might have a chance to see the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle tonight during twilight shortly after they separate.
The question is whether they’ll appear as one point of light or two.
SPACE.com’s Skywatching Columnist Joe Rao told subscribers to his newsletter that they might be too close together to be seen as separate objects with the naked eye. Binoculars should reveal the pair as two distinct moving points of light, Rao figures.
Find out when to watch at this NASA site.
December 19th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
From Glen Burnie, Md., the shuttle-station pair passed overhead maybe brighter than I’ve seen before, perhaps because they were separated, but I could see two distinct lights. However, I did see something different. Usually the light intensity gradually builds as the shuttle or ISS pass farther from the sun and the reflection angle improves. Tonight, there was a brief flare in brightness at around 6:01 or 6:02 p.m. EST. I thought maybe the shuttle had rotated and caught a quick reflection in the process. When I got back to the NASA feed, I heard the shuttle was getting ready for its second seoparation burn. So, I wonder if what I saw was thruster fire from the first burn.