ISS Zarya

[Spier24]

Only my fourth every observing session last night and I managed see what I think was ISS Zarya was I was aligning the telescope. Appeared at 20:54 GMT time next to Rigel. I wasn't sure what it was at first because it was pretty bright! It moved up into monoceros as it started to gradually dim before disappearing.

[adyj1]

Yup, the ISS was doing a flyover at that time.

To check, I used the Sky Safari mobile app, set it to 20:54 yesterday and searched for the ISS (in fact I used have notifications set so it would tell me when there was a flyover). 

Obviously you could use Sky Safari to check real-time as well 😉 

[Spier24]

1 hour ago, adyj1 said:

Yup, the ISS was doing a flyover at that time.

To check, I used the Sky Safari mobile app, set it to 20:54 yesterday and searched for the ISS (in fact I used have notifications set so it would tell me when there was a flyover). 

Obviously you could use Sky Safari to check real-time as well 😉 

I used the sky safari app to check what it was. Although I assumed it was either a satellite or the ISS

[adyj1]

8 hours ago, Spier24 said:

I used the sky safari app to check what it was. Although I assumed it was either a satellite or the ISS

In my experience the iss is much brighter than other satellites. I assume there are a number of factors such as size and lower earth orbit, but its always a bright 'un 😉 

[Waddensky]

Zarya ('dawn') was the first module of the ISS. I don't know why SkySafari still calls it that way (I noticed it too), but it's a nice reminder of the past of the famous space station 🙂.

Under normal circumstances, ISS is the brightest satellite. If you manage to track it for a few seconds with a telescope, a moderate magnification will already reveal its solar panels.