Looking for Identified Flying Objects, Courtesy of NASA
Posted: Wednesday, July 29, 2009
by Danny Davids
It was 9 pm and I was getting excited. "What time did you say this was supposed to happen?" I asked my wife.
"Between 9:10 and 9:20," she replied. "They say best visibility is around 9:17."
I let the dogs out back to do their business, glancing anxiously at the sky. I was trying to find the stars that I knew were familiar and regular parts of the nighttime sky, so I wouldn't confuse them with what I was really looking for.
The dogs went back in, but I couldn't stay in with them. I headed out the front door, standing in our driveway, scanning the heavens intently. Even the slightest movement could mean...
Opening the front door long enough to call into my wife, "I SEE IT!", I stood in the driveway staring straight up. There it was, a faint dot traveling quickly across the field of stars. Too slow to be a meteor, too fast to be a planet, it could only be one thing.
My wife joined me in the driveway, and I did my best to point out the dim light sailing through the star field. She couldn't see it, and in a few more seconds it faded from view.
"That can't have been it," she said. "It's not 9:17 yet. Besides, we should have seen three objects, not one."
I thought for a minute. The light I found had been moving from west to east across the sky. My elation was deflated a bit as I realized what I had been tracking was probably just a communications satellite. Any other night I would have been ecstatic; tonight I was looking for much bigger astronomical game.
Remembering what the earth map at NASA looked like, I turned to the north. "Oh, my...!" My wife noticed at the same time I did. "Oh, wow!" A person would have to be blind to miss what we were seeing: Two bright lights in the sky, brighter than Jupiter or Venus, moving quickly from the northwest to the southeast. We knew we were observing the space shuttle and the International Space Station; a smaller Russian space ship was there as well, but was too faint for us to see. For three incredible minutes we watched as some of man's handiwork soared over us, gradually growing fainter and eventually fading out of sight. My wife even managed to snap a picture, a blurry streak of one of the two just seconds before it disappeared from view.
"Between 9:10 and 9:20," she replied. "They say best visibility is around 9:17."
I let the dogs out back to do their business, glancing anxiously at the sky. I was trying to find the stars that I knew were familiar and regular parts of the nighttime sky, so I wouldn't confuse them with what I was really looking for.
Opening the front door long enough to call into my wife, "I SEE IT!", I stood in the driveway staring straight up. There it was, a faint dot traveling quickly across the field of stars. Too slow to be a meteor, too fast to be a planet, it could only be one thing.
My wife joined me in the driveway, and I did my best to point out the dim light sailing through the star field. She couldn't see it, and in a few more seconds it faded from view.
"That can't have been it," she said. "It's not 9:17 yet. Besides, we should have seen three objects, not one."
I thought for a minute. The light I found had been moving from west to east across the sky. My elation was deflated a bit as I realized what I had been tracking was probably just a communications satellite. Any other night I would have been ecstatic; tonight I was looking for much bigger astronomical game.
Remembering what the earth map at NASA looked like, I turned to the north. "Oh, my...!" My wife noticed at the same time I did. "Oh, wow!" A person would have to be blind to miss what we were seeing: Two bright lights in the sky, brighter than Jupiter or Venus, moving quickly from the northwest to the southeast. We knew we were observing the space shuttle and the International Space Station; a smaller Russian space ship was there as well, but was too faint for us to see. For three incredible minutes we watched as some of man's handiwork soared over us, gradually growing fainter and eventually fading out of sight. My wife even managed to snap a picture, a blurry streak of one of the two just seconds before it disappeared from view.
We've seen the ISS before, but seeing both it and the space shuttle in such close proximity was simply amazing. It's even more spectacular knowing it may have been the last time we will see the space shuttle in orbit (NASA is grounding the shuttle program). I know it's something I won't soon forget.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Excellent, glad you were able to see it--one of those once in a lifetime things!Since I can't be an astronaut, I'll settle for observing from the safety of the home planet. And I'm loving it. :)
Wow, Danny, what an awesome experience! I must admit I felt a pang of jealousy. You could see it without a scope?Wow!!Ken, you couldn't see the shapes, but good lord--two extremely bright lights in the sky moving as fast as they did and there was no way you could mistake them for anything else. Unless you live near Area 51, perhaps...!
That must have been amazing to see Danny. I never have luck with those things. I can remember watching for shooting stars with my husband and children. They would yell and point and I would turn to look and it would be gone. Never saw one, but seemed to provide the humour for all of them that evening.I'm glad you and your wife were able to catch it, and on film no less!My wife was upset that she got the blur, but for crying out loud, she got it! It's as exciting as when I successfully took photographs of Comet Hale-Bopp on its last visit in our part of the solar system!
Hi Danny, sounds like a magical moment! What an opportunity, I am jealous. Good for you guys!! Blessings, TeresaYou don't have to be jealous, Teresa. You can see the ISS for yourself. See my response to Connor below. Oh, it means you have to actually go outside and look up at the sky, too... :)
Great article. Well done.I thought for a second you were talking about UFO files...Though, thankfully not. I have never seen the ISS in the sky before. Maybe I should look harder or it may not orbit above were I live.Connor, NASA makes available a Web site where you can find when the ISS is supposed to pass overhead in your area. Go to their Web site at spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking, select the menu option for Realtime Data, then Sighting Opportunities, and enter your country, state, and city. You'll get a chart with upcoming sightings in your area. We will be able to see the ISS again on August 11, 12, and 13.Thanks, I'll have a look.
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