ISS Passes May 2019

[+PISA-caching]

On ‎5‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 1:59 AM, 8Nuts MotherGoose said:

The reason we don't require a photo of the GPS any more is because most people are now using their smart phone as a camera and as a GPS. It's difficult to use your smart phone to take a photo of your smart phone with the Ground Track in the background.

Can anyone think of a Fool-Proof way of showing Proof when a phone can be fooled into showing the wrong time/date and wrong location?

At the End, it still requires the Honor of the observer to say whether he saw it or not.

 

I think there is no way to demand a proof that is impossible to counterfeit. Alfouine and I tried the 19th of May first, but that night was just too cloudy here in Vienna. I couldn't see anything, but I could have taken a photo of my GPS or make a screenshot of my cell phone and claim that I had seen it. But I guess there are those people who don't care much HOW they get their icons (and I bet they will always find a way to cheat) and there are people (like myself) who use Waymarking like a photo album of what they saw. And at the end of the day I want to browse through my waymarks and visits and remember how easy or difficult it was to get to this or that waymark, the problems I had to find some information about that particular milestone, the harsh wind that made it difficult to take a good photo of that lighthouse in Scotland or the problems with understanding the category description. :-)

[+PISA-caching]

I just noticed that I successfully created the first waymark in this category in Austria. WooooHOOOO!!! Sunday morning we will start a coach trip to France and we will stay one night in Italy in the beginning (in Cremona) and at the end (in Savona). I checked Cremona first and found:

 

https://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=45.1332&lng=10.0227&loc=Cremona&alt=0&tz=CET&cul=en

 

Is there any chance for another ISS waymark? 55° is high enough and from what I saw on the ground track Image it will be visible until 00:17. But, I still don't know how to find out where the ISS will be before and after the highlighted period.

 

For Savona (the night from 2nd to 3rd June) I found:

 

 

Almost forgot to mention: There is no ISS waymark in Italy so far. So, this would be double-cool.

Edited May 23, 2019 by PISA-caching

[+elyob]

I have deleted my comment.  Apparently, the Orbit function only works with the current ISS pass.

 

Edited May 23, 2019 by elyob

[+Alfouine]

9:40 pm in Italy the 2nd of june, i will not be dark 

[+Max and 99]

I deleted my post after discovering that all my pass times were incorrect.

I am contacting Utah waymarkers for a possible partnership in the evening of June 4.

[+8Nuts MotherGoose]

10 hours ago, PISA-caching said:

we will stay one night in Italy in the beginning (in Cremona) and at the end (in Savona). I checked Cremona first and found:

Look closer at the chart you posted for Cremona. On 27 May at 00:14:17 the ISS rises to the WNW. At 00:17:12 it reaches 55° to the NNW. BUT at the same time (00:17:12) it disappears into the Earths shadow. If you look at the ground path for that pass, you will see a solid line become a dotted line. The dotted line is in shadow and the ISS can't be seen. It's rather cool watching it turn from bright white to red to orange to disappear, all in about 10 seconds. Any partners would have to be to the West.

A good way to figure out where a partner could be located is look at the ground path. The edge of the bright circle is your viewing horizon. Look where the Pass line travels and see if you can see a major geological feature such as a bay, lake, or ocean shore. Use Google Earth and zoom in to that point and see what town is there. Set Heavens Above to that town and see how the ISS pass looks. If it looks good, check for waymarkers within 400 km. If you find a Waymarker check their home town on Heavens Above for the same pass and see if they are above 45°. If so, you have a partner for that pass.

[+8Nuts MotherGoose]

I will be traveling and camping for several days and may not have internet. I'll catch up when I return, or find a Hot Spot for internet.

[+PISA-caching]

20 hours ago, Alfouine said:

9:40 pm in Italy the 2nd of june, i will not be dark 

 

The sundown will be 21:03, so it will not be very dark, but maybe dark enough to see the ISS. Anyway, I will concentrate on Cremona instead.

 

I just checked the data for Tours, France for the night 26th/27th of May. At 00:15:44 the ISS will have an altitude of 58°. So, we could create another one, if you want. :-)

Edited May 24, 2019 by PISA-caching

[+PISA-caching]

10 hours ago, 8Nuts MotherGoose said:

Look closer at the chart you posted for Cremona. On 27 May at 00:14:17 the ISS rises to the WNW. At 00:17:12 it reaches 55° to the NNW. BUT at the same time (00:17:12) it disappears into the Earths shadow. If you look at the ground path for that pass, you will see a solid line become a dotted line. The dotted line is in shadow and the ISS can't be seen. It's rather cool watching it turn from bright white to red to orange to disappear, all in about 10 seconds. Any partners would have to be to the West.

A good way to figure out where a partner could be located is look at the ground path. The edge of the bright circle is your viewing horizon. Look where the Pass line travels and see if you can see a major geological feature such as a bay, lake, or ocean shore. Use Google Earth and zoom in to that point and see what town is there. Set Heavens Above to that town and see how the ISS pass looks. If it looks good, check for waymarkers within 400 km. If you find a Waymarker check their home town on Heavens Above for the same pass and see if they are above 45°. If so, you have a partner for that pass.

 

A most helpful posting. Thanks a lot. I noticed the dotted part of the line and knew, that it would disappear there, but I didn't know that it will also change colors before disappearing. I should watch that, no matter if I find a partner or not.

 

I checked the ground track and it will pass Cornwall, England (maybe also the southernmost part of Ireland). It will then fly across France (Alfouine?) and maybe Switzerland, but Switzerland would be too close to Savona.

[+Alfouine]

27 mai

-2,7

00:14:57

10°

ONO

00:17:09

34°

O

00:17:09

34°

O

visible

 

I have this, it's not possible for me, under 45°

 

26 mai

-3,0

22:38:13

10°

ONO

22:41:31

52°

NNE

22:44:21

13°

E

visible

 

This one is OK

 

I live at 40 km east of Tours

 

[+PISA-caching]

That's confusing. I tried to find coordinates that are approximately 40 km east of Tours and came up with 47,3910°N, 1,2242°O. Using these coordinates I got the following data:

 

 

If your data is correct, we don't have a chance, because the one on 26th is too low for me and the one on 27th is too low for you.

[+Alfouine]

16 minutes ago, PISA-caching said: That's confusing. I tried to find coordinates that are approximately 40 km east of Tours and came up with 47,3910°N, 1,2242°O. Using these coordinates I got the following data:     If your data is correct, we don't have a chance, because the one on 26th is too low for me and the one on 27th is too low for you. 27 mai

-2,7

00:14:57

10°

ONO

00:17:09

34°

O

00:17:09

34°

O

visible

 

You took West and not East, that explains the difference

 

[+PISA-caching]

??? When you click on the link and zoom into that map, you will see that the coordinates are east of Tours.

[+Alfouine]

43 minutes ago, PISA-caching said:

??? When you click on the link and zoom into that map, you will see that the coordinates are east of Tours.

 

You are right, i was using Vienna coordinates 

 

Ok i have 

27 mai

-3,3

00:12:29

10°

ONO

00:15:49

59°

NNE

00:17:09

31°

E

visible

[+PISA-caching]

Ok. Great! So we can make another waymark. I just hope that we will have good weather (right now the weatherforecast says we will have rain) and that the location in Cremona allows a good view.

Edited May 24, 2019 by PISA-caching

[+8Nuts MotherGoose]

3 hours ago, Alfouine said:

 

You are right, i was using Vienna coordinates 

 

Ok i have 

27 mai

-3,3

00:12:29

10°

ONO

00:15:49

59°

NNE

00:17:09

31°

E

visible

GREAT! You found your own mistake. And what you found is a common error. Even when you open two web pages of Heavens Above and search for two cities. When you close out those two pages, Heavens Above remembers which was your last search location. Tomorrow or two weeks from now, When you open Heavens Above, it will put you at your last search location, not necessarily at your home. I make that mistake frequently.

[vulture1957]

congratulations to Alfouine and PISA-Caching on their ISS sighting waymarks.

 

55 different people have posted 80 ISS sighting waymarks.

Edited May 25, 2019 by vulture1957

[+Max and 99]

On 5/25/2019 at 3:10 PM, vulture1957 said:

congratulations to Alfouine and PISA-Caching on their ISS sighting waymarks.

 

55 different people have posted 80 ISS sighting waymarks.

You inspired me to find out more. If we calculated right:

 

As of today, 80 ISS waymarks have been created in 7 different countries: USA, Canada, Spain, France, Guatemala, Austria, and S. Africa.

 

Austria: 1

Canada: 8

Spain: 1

France: 5

Guatemala: 1

S. Africa: 1

USA: 63  (Includes 22 states: KS, FL, TX, MD, OK, CO, NY, VA, KY, CA, UT, NV, IL, NJ, GA, TN, NE, IN, WA, SD, IA, MO)

 

The most represented U.S. states are TX (14) and OK (14).

 

 

 

 

[+iconions]

On 5/13/2019 at 3:14 AM, Max and 99 said:

Confirmed:

OKC, OK  22:02 Max and 99

Waterloo, IA  22:04. IowaTom 

Ottawa, ON 23:07 (close!) elyob

Madrid, Spain 05:21 Picarax

 

Wow! 

Please good weather!

If my mother caught me, I'd be in SOOOO much trouble...  I forgot to thank everyone on the 18th for participating in, and helping me with, this ISS pass waymark.  It was a lot of fun.  I hope to help with another pass sometime! 

[+bluesnote]

I'm back in Los Angeles and I can help if anyone needs another observer out here.

[+8Nuts MotherGoose]

29 minutes ago, bluesnote said:

I'm back in Los Angeles and I can help if anyone needs another observer out here.

I'm glad we got together for one Pass before you moved West again.

Los Angeles area seems to be a black hole for finding partners. If you can observe a pass going NW to SE at your 45° to the NE, it still passes to my SW at less than 45°.

[+Max and 99]

My pass tonight was a challenge! Only - 1.5 mag, 2 minutes view time, and it blinked away at exactly max altitude of only 22°.

[+Max and 99]

On 5/23/2019 at 11:22 AM, PISA-caching said:

 

I think there is no way to demand a proof that is impossible to counterfeit. 

If someone logs a visit on my ISS pass I'll probably believe them. Unless they say something like this, translated):

 

 

 

Our journey on the 66 road continues in the company of our friends Fullbrou... Found on a sunny day in the direction of Tulsa... 

 

 

[+Max and 99]

On 5/18/2019 at 8:37 PM, Max and 99 said:

Just a friendly reminder to my fellow waymarkers: if you run a scavenger hunt, make sure you ignore the ISS Sightings category before activating your hunt.

The hunt will require you to visit an ISS waymark that you may never qualify to visit. Just be aware when scavenger hunting.

 

 

 

Just remember this when you are creating an ISS waymark.

 

FOUR of the same ISS waymarks were created by us last night for the same pass with 8Nuts. Every time one was created, it disappeared. Tried again. It's not there. One more time. Nothing. Tried on a different computer. Disappeared. I finally figured it out! Since I have to ignore the ISS for scavenger hunts, none of the ISS waymarks I created were showing up in my unfinished folder. Once I removed the category from the ignore list, all 4 showed up. Lesson learned!

I'm sharing this experience hoping it will save someone else any frustration.

[vulture1957]

I wish I had known you were working with 8Nuts for this one. I would have been out watching to post a visit.

 

[+8Nuts MotherGoose]

4 hours ago, vulture1957 said:

I wish I had known you were working with 8Nuts for this one. I would have been out watching to post a visit.

 

I frequently observe the ISS when it passes, not knowing whether others are going to Waymark it. If I want to do the easy part of just Visiting, I have to do more observing to earn the occasional Visit. I was out observing the night before this Pass also, knowing that there was almost no chance of anyone Waymarking it as it passed far West of all known ISS Waymarkers.

In the case of this paired Waymark, my location in Donna, TX was only at 44° and OK City was at 46°. It was only two days before the Pass that I decided to drive 20 miles east to be at 46°.

[+Max and 99]

9 minutes ago, 8Nuts MotherGoose said:

I frequently observe the ISS when it passes, not knowing whether others are going to Waymark it. If I want to do the easy part of just Visiting, I have to do more observing to earn the occasional Visit. I was out observing the night before this Pass also, knowing that there was almost no chance of anyone Waymarking it as it passed far West of all known ISS Waymarkers.

In the case of this paired Waymark, my location in Donna, TX was only at 44° and OK City was at 46°. It was only two days before the Pass that I decided to drive 20 miles east to be at 46°.

We tend to watch most ISS passes that are available for us to see. Often we just walk outside the front door to look.  If it's for a waymark, I have to keep finding new places since the website doesn't like it when my coordinates are close to another viewing site I've used in the pass.

[+8Nuts MotherGoose]

Since there is no minimum distance limit on the ISS Waymarks, I ignore any listed nearby Waymarks of this Category when I review the Waymark.

[+elyob]

12 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

We tend to watch most ISS passes that are available for us to see. Often we just walk outside the front door to look.  If it's for a waymark, I have to keep finding new places since the website doesn't like it when my coordinates are close to another viewing site I've used in the pass.

 

I don't understand.  I have posted five ISS waymarks all within a couple of feet of each other.

[+Max and 99]

Space Friends,

Did you hear the good news that Snoopy has been found? Just incredible!

 

https://www.slashgear.com/nasas-long-lost-apollo-10-snoopy-lunar-module-may-have-been-found-10579900/