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ISS Tail ???

Gene

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Gene

Gene

Posted
Posted

Hi,

I just saw the ISS pass over Somerset (1916 hrs) and for the first time I saw (along with a local friend over the phone) what looked like a long curved 'tail' underneath it.... anyone know what may cause this phenomenom?

I was initially worried about the station venting gas or something but thats just being a little over dramatic.

I know Atlantis is docked but I've never spotted anthing like this on all the other passes I've watched.

Anyone else seen anything similar ever?

G.

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Gene

Gene

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Maybe... but the curved 'tail' was below it not behind it... which in itself is weird as it was curved forward, like the tail of a small letter 'g', not curved backwards like I would expect any motion related atmospheric type thing (for want of a better word).

Thanks

G.

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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Gene, I saw the same pass at the same time and saw exactly the same phenomenon as you through my 10x50 binos!! I was very curious about it and just assumed it was an optical/mental "aberration", but two descriptions of the same thing from different people in different parts of the country simply can't be a coincidence!

Excuse the over-enthusiastic post - I'm on an astro-high.... I'm sure you understand!

Andrew

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Gene

Gene

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Well seeing as my mate saw it aswell (I rang him to make sure he caught a pass as he keeps missing the ones I warn him about) that makes 3 of us... very strange.

Lets just hope its not a real problem with the ISS or Atlantis.

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redglare

redglare

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Is it possible that the ISS/shuttle config was venting what they used to call in the apollo days the constellation of "urion", I saw this on the ISS a few years ago and emailed heavens above about it, the cloud formed a comet-like coma ...........possibly a waste water dump?

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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I don't believe it! I look into space and all I see is a stream of p!ss... :D

Sorry about that...

I'm really keen to get to the bottom of this. I suppose they must have to dispose of liquid waste somehow, but I doubt it would be visible from so far away...?

Andrew

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Astroman

Astroman

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I'm really keen to get to the bottom of this. I suppose they must have to dispose of liquid waste somehow, but I doubt it would be visible from so far away...?

Andrew

On the contrary. Just recently, we've seen venting from a geostationary satellite-a fuel dump. It was seen across the US as an ever expanding comet shaped cloud that lasted for a couple hours. Apollo 8, on the way to the Moon for the first time, was surrounded by little chunks of debris that Frank Borman misidentified as "space dust". Turned out to be debri from the third stage separation charges! Followed them all the way to the Moon! Until they did the OLI burn, of course.

Our fuel dump was almost straight up midnight, local, so the Sun reflected nicely off the fuel. Seen at the right angle, you may not notice it at all. And a dump of some kind makes a lot more sense than my original idea. :insects1:

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Gene

Gene

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Thanks guys,

So it was probably liquid bio waste of some sort then... that will make my newbie mate smile.

What I can't get my head round though is that the cloud 'tail' was curved in the direction that it was heading (as we viewed it).

G.

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coliea

coliea

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What I can't get my head round though is that the cloud 'tail' was curved in the direction that it was heading (as we viewed it).

Newton's first law of motion. If released in a particular direction it would continue to move in that direction unless an external force was applied to it. No air = no external force.

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Baskii

Baskii

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Also, am I right in thinking that objects in a lower orbit have a higher velocity than those in a higher orbit? If the material was vented towards the Earth, it would gain orbital velocity as it fell, and move ahead of the ISS in its orbit. This could explain the shape of the "tail".

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Vega

Vega

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Hi Tony

Bad timing you've just missed practically the last evening pass for a while. 6.01pm :D. There is one more tomorrow night at 6:24 ish but it wont get very high in the sky. After that all the passes are in the mornings before sunrise. These 'blocks of passes' go over every night for a period of just under 2 weeks. Anyways never fear.. the next lot of evening passes is only just over a month away.

Use this website for more info :D

Cheers

Matt

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  • 1 month later...
aries

aries

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Had a look at the site for ISS, and blow me down, if it 'aint passing RIGHT overhead tonight at 20.28!!!! :)

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?Session=kebgcpaflbpocbpiogfhaamc&satid=25544&date=39536.8112034491

http://www.heavens-above.com/gtrack.asp?date=39536.8112034491&Session=kebgcpaflbpocbpiogfhaamc&satid=25544

Hope it's not too cloudy, as i have yet to see it with my scope!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

Nick.........

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Naz

Naz

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Had a look at the site for ISS, and blow me down, if it 'aint passing RIGHT overhead tonight at 20.28!!!! :)

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?Session=kebgcpaflbpocbpiogfhaamc&satid=25544&date=39536.8112034491

http://www.heavens-above.com/gtrack.asp?date=39536.8112034491&Session=kebgcpaflbpocbpiogfhaamc&satid=25544

Hope it's not too cloudy, as i have yet to see it with my scope!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

Nick.........

You would have fun tracking the ISS with your scope, best to set it up and with a low magnification and wait for it to fly through the field of view, to try and follow would be difficult.

naz

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