Well here's a good reason to be in Utah! We all know (if we watch or follow the news at all) that the space shuttle Discovery finally, after a month of delays, blasted off yesterday. Apparently this evening we utahns can see it!!I think I'll be heading outside at 8:20'ish to see if I can find the shuttle. It's supposed to be pretty bright so I'm hoping even with the city lights I can.
In the comments section of the article one of the people gives a link to the Heavens-Above home page. After some very easy setting up (register and then input your location), you can be shown all the visible satellite passes up to a week in advance. The shuttle and the space station are the brightest, but the Hubble Space Telescope is supposed to be pretty easy to spot. Not to mention updated star charts for your area and time of year.
Someday when I'm rich and have won the lotto (which doesn't exist in Utah) I'm going to buy a telescope so I can do some real star viewing!
2 comments:
I remember my mom taking us out in the yard one night to see Telstar pass overhead. I was a kid (Telstar was launched just after I'd turned ten) and didn't understand what was such a big deal about it. After all, planes flew over all the time and we didn't go out to look at them :-P
*chuckle* yeah I didn't bother keeping the kiddo awake for it. I thought it was cool but basically it looks like a star that moves quickly from horizon to horizon. IF he'd seen it he'd have thought I was nuts.
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