Very bright ISS last night

[legion48]

I was just finished packing my gear away into the shed last night when I looked up and saw the brightest satellite I have ever seen pass directly overhead. I've seen many satellites over the years but this was easily the brightest. I'm not a good judge of magnitudes but this had to be at least twice as bright as Venus at it's best. It was big too, not just a bright point. I estimate it was traveling from west to east and the time was exactly 23:00 BST. I called Mrs Legion out and we watched it for about 10-15 seconds before it started to dim. It really was quite a sight. I've checked out Orbitron and the ISS was directly over my location (Harlow) at the time. I'd had a reasonably good evening with Jupiter and her moons and this sighting of the ISS was the icing on the cake.

[Trevor]

Mmmmmm packing up at 23-00.….my neck was cranked round at silly angles trying to image it.

[Vega]

Hi

Yes I saw it last night too... I see where your coming from with brightness. It's definatly brighter since the new truss/solar arrays were attached but not twice as bright as Venus :shock: Venus is *usually* in twilight so it is much brighter than we visualise in our minds. Going by the numbers, Venus is 4 times brighter than Jupiter (best to think of it that way). I compared it to Jupiter as it passed close to the planet the previous nights pass. It was definatly brighter than Jupiter. My guess is about mag -3. Still... very impressive. I might start a new thread asking for some obs on the brightness of tonights pass.

Vega

[legion48]

I bow to your greater knowledge Vega, but I'm still going to put factor 20 suncream on for tonight pass. :shock:

[Vega]

and don't forget the welder's helmet... failing that eclipse shades!

[Ant]

Hi guys,

I saw it too. Offical mag was -2.4 I beleive. Very very bright indeed! Imagine how bright the damn thing is going to be when it's twice the size.

I was taking wide field shots of a different area of sky when I noticed it. Quickly finished it and moved the camera quickly enough to get the tale end of it!

It was spectacular. The ISS will be visible every night this week - if only the clouds would [removed word] off!

Ant