19 December 2006

Observing Location	VP
Observational Period	1045-1100 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature Low 40s F Wind Gentle Breeze gusting to Fresh Breeze Humidity Low Feels Like Cool It is supposed to be a mix of sun and clouds today. Right now it is sunny. Hopefully it will be that way again tonight for the STS & ISS visible pass. Transparency Good Seeing I
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade #14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Oph Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20061219.1045 EST Comments Heliographic Latitude (B0) -1.48° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 261.31° Position Angle (P) +8.14° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2051 I wasn't anticipating seeing anything so had only brought the compact binoculars. I was not disappointed.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) There was nothing at all visible on the sun today

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Here are the visible passes for ISS and STS-116 for the duration of the STS-116 mission as posted on CalSky at noon today.

There will be a visible pass tonight just after they STS-116 undocks from the ISS so it should be possible to see them flying as two points of light.

Tuesday 19 December 2006
14h22m	STS-116	Closing of ISS and Space Shuttle hatches
17h09m	STS-116	Undocking of Space Shuttle from ISS
17h38m	STS-116	First separation burn
18h03m21s	STS-116	Appears 17h58m38s 6.0m az:247.6d WSW Transit 18h03m21s -0.5m az:328.8d NNW h:41.5d dist:497.4km alt:339.7km Disappears 18h03m48s -0.7m az:356.8d N h:37.7d
18h03m22s	ISS	Appears 17h58m40s 5.5m az:247.6d WSW Transit 18h03m22s -1.0m az:328.8d NNW h:41.4d dist:497.4km alt:339.2km Disappears 18h03m49s -1.2m az:356.6d N h:37.7d
18h52m	STS-116	Final Separationburn from ISS
Wednesday 20 December 2006
16h46m20s	STS-116	Appears 16h41m47s 5.5m az:220.6d SW Transit 16h46m20s -1.0m az:139.3d SE h:46.0d dist:431.0km alt:316.8km Disappears 16h49m45s 1.2m az: 60.9d ENE h:5.4d
16h50m57s	ISS	Appears 16h46m14s 5.3m az:223.2d SW Transit 16h50m57s -1.6m az:140.0d SE h:54.4d dist:407.8km alt:335.5km Disappears 16h54m21s 0.7m az: 59.5d ENE h:6.4d
18h20m49s	STS-116	Appears 18h16m54s 5.3m az:267.6d W Disappears 18h20m49s 0.9m az:323.4d NW h:18.6d
18h25m43s	ISS	Appears 18h21m46s 4.7m az:269.0d W Disappears 18h25m43s 0.6m az:322.3d NW h:18.3d
Thursday 21 December 2006
17h03m56s	STS-116	Appears 16h59m22s 8.2m az:242.6d WSW Transit 17h03m56s -1.0m az:326.8d NNW h:51.9d dist:398.9km alt:318.2km Disappears 17h06m48s 0.9m az: 46.3d NE h:8.8d
17h12m58.63s	ISS	Close to Vega, Alp Lyr (SAO 67174, HIP 91262 HD172167), Magnitude=0.0mag. Separation=1.001° Position Angle=91.0° Angular Velocity=42.4'/s Angular diameter=34.2" size=73.0m x 44.5m x 27.5m Satellite at Azimuth=292.9° WNW Altitude= 36.5° Distance=541.4 km Magnitude=-0.2mag Satellite apparently moves to clock-face direction 2:10 o'clock Centerline, Closest Point: Longitude= 74°03'33" W Latitude=+40°51'22" Distance=13.53 km Azimuth=330.6° NNW Path direction: 60.5° ENE ground speed: 7.653 km/s
17h13m33s	ISS	Appears 17h08m51s 7.2m az:246.9d WSW Transit 17h13m33s -1.1m az:328.5d NNW h:42.7d dist:483.5km alt:337.0km Disappears 17h16m09s 0.2m az: 41.8d NE h:11.0d
Friday 22 December 2006
14h53m	STS-116	Deorbit Burn to Kennedy Space Center KSC (first option). From this time on until landing, predictions from CalSKY will not be correct.
15h56m	STS-116	Landing at Kennedy Space Center KSC, Florida (primary site, first option).
All times in EST or EDT (during summer)

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Observing Location	Tbe North Cove, World Financial Center, New York, NY
Observational Period	1615-1805 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 30s F Wind Moderate Breeze gusting to Fresh Breeze Humidity Moderate Feels Like Cold The wind is making it feel colder than it really is and it is bordering on uncomfortable. There are clouds on the horizon which I expect the satellites to rise out of. Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway It was cold and windy out so there weren't many people walking around. I did see a woman with a pair of young children who I told about the event and they stayed to watch it with me.

Target ISS & STS-116 Visible Pasa Constellation Sco-Aql-Sgr-Vul Lyr-Dra-UMi Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20061219.1758 EST Comments I have been waiting a long time to see the Space Shuttle and ISS flying across the sky together and the time it happens they were so close together I almost didn't split them. I would have preferred to have seen them one orbit later when there is a bit more separation between them, but am happy to have seen them this time. The Shuttle separated from the ISS at 1710 EST while I was monitoring the flight transmissions on the amateur radio. It seems to be a non-event. The docking adapter is spring loaded and appears to release itself once armed but that is hard to be certain of. Mission Control gave them the GO for separation at least 15 minutes before it happened and there was little air-to-ground communication after that until Discovery reported that it had been separated and ISS confirmed it. The docking mechanism simply pushes against the shuttle to force it away from the ISS once the docking latches are released. Once the shuttle is at a safe distance from the ISS it uses its thrusters to increase that distance to 400 feet then it begins a fly-around of the ISS to gather images. It was during that fly-around that this visible pass occurred so the two craft were within 700 feet of each other. We saw a golden light very low on the SW horizon down toward Newark Airport. There were a lot of planes in the area to get ISS confused with but this light didn't have any flashing nav lights attached to it. As the ISS gained altitude it became a bright white light and with the binocular I could see a dimmer light keeping station with it to its 7:30 position. The pair of craft crossed the river onto the NY side and were in the process of dimming when they disappeared behind 5 World Financial Center.