I'm not sure if anyone answered this question previously, so I apologize if this sounds repetitive. With the launch of Atlantis scheduled for 12:29 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, I am wondering how far ahead of it in their respective 51.6-degree orbits the ISS will be at that moment? On Wednesday evening, about 7 hours after Atlantis is launched, the ISS will pass over the Greater New York Area around 7:30 p.m. EDT. This will be a very high pass -- roughly 70-degrees max. altitude -- going from NW to SE. Unfortunately, the sky may be a bit too bright to get a good look since this will only come about 10 minutes after sunset and midway through civil twilight; the Sun will only be about 3-degrees below the horizon (this is probably why Heavens-Above does not list this pass). My question is, how much longer will New Yorkers have to wait before Atlantis shows up? Obviously, the longer the wait . . . the darker the sky and better the odds of making a sighting. On Thursday evening, there will be a relatively low pass (~21-degrees) over in the southwest at around 7:54 p.m. EDT. But that's only about 12-hours before Atlantis docks with the ISS, so would we see both ISS and the orbiter close together, in tandem fashion? At the moment, NASA has not posted the new preliminary ELSET data for the upcoming mission, so there is no way I can generate any preliminary sighting info, but I'm curious if anyone could make an educated guess as to where Atlantis would be relative to the ISS on one or both of the above evenings? Happy Labor Day to all! -- joe rao ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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