macpuzlBy Chuck McPartlin
The International Space Station will be making some visible evening passes to photograph Edhat’s brand new headquarters in De La Guerra Plaza, assuming the weather cooperates. You can always find the latest predictions at Heavens-Above.
On Thursday, April 4, the ISS will rise at 9:14 PM PDT in the NNW under the W of Cassiopeia, the Queen, and pass low over our mountain horizon through dim Cepheus, the King, before disappearing in the Earth’s shadow due N below Polaris at 9:16 PM.
Friday’s first pass will be similar, but longer, starting at 8:24 PM in the N near Cassiopeia, going through Cepheus and tracing the back of Draco, the Dragon before fading away in Boötes, the Herdsman, below the handle of the Big Dipper, in the NE at 8:27 PM. The station will pop up again for 20 seconds on its next orbit, just before 10:00 PM low in the NW by Algol, the Demon Star.
On Saturday there will be a bright pass starting in the NW at 9:09 PM between Cassiopeia and Perseus, climbing up into dim Camelopardalis, the Giraffe, to vanish in our shadow at 9:12 PM in the NNW.
Sunday’s first ISS visit will rise in the NNW at 8:18 PM, pass through Cassiopeia and Cepheus, the bowl of the Little Dipper, the end of the handle of the Big Dipper, and disappear in the E at 8:23 PM near orange Arcturus. Another 20 second pop-up will occur around 9:56 PM in the W, by the red sparks of Mars and Aldebaran.
On Monday, April 8, the station will rise at 9:04 PM in the WNW, for a bright pass by Perseus, Mars, the Moon, orange Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, and orange Betelgeuse in the armpit of Orion, then fade out in dim Monoceros, the Unicorn, in the SW at 9:07 PM above Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
Tuesday’s pass will be the brightest of this sequence, rising at 8:13 PM in the NW, and passing high overhead, cruising near the bright stars Mirfak, Capella, Castor and Pollux, and Regulus before tracing most of the length of Hydra, the dim Sea Serpent, to set in the SE at 8:19 PM.
Wednesday evening it will rise at 9:00 PM in the W and skim low through the feet of Taurus, Orion, and Canis Major to set at 9:04 PM in the SSW in dim Puppis, the Poop Deck of Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts.
The final pass of this sequence will be on Thursday, and be a higher, brighter repeat of Wednesday’s trajectory, starting in the WNW at 8:09 PM and setting in the S at 8:14 PM.
Hasta nebula, Chuck
