macpuzl
The International Space Station will be making a few visible evening passes through Santa Barbara’s skies over the next week or so. Its orbit may change, and I’ve only listed the very brightest events, so to get the latest and most complete predictions, visit Heavens Above.
On Friday, September 27, the ISS will appear in the NNW at 8:21 PM PDT, passing low over our mountain horizon from the bowl of the Big Dipper asterism and below Polaris to the NNE, where it will disappear into our shadow at 8:23 PM.
Saturday’s pass will rise at 7:33 PM in the NNW and again pass low from the head of Ursa Major to Perseus, and fade out in the ENE at 7:37 PM between Andromeda and Triangulum. It will pop up briefly again at 9:09 PM in the WNW, climbing up to Boötes before vanishing after a minute.
On Sunday, the station will make a bright pass from NW to NNW, rising at 8:21 PM below the Big Dipper’s handle, and cruising along sinuous Draco to disappear in shadow at 8:24 PM at an altitude of 63 degrees.
It will have a longer bright pass on Monday, starting at 7:33 PM in the NW by the bowl of the Big Dipper, sailing by Polaris, between Cepheus and Cassiopeia, across the lower part of the Great Square asterism in Pegasus, and into the dim asterism of the Circlet in Pisces in the E, where it will fade away at 7:38 PM.
On October 1, the ISS will rise at 8:21 PM in the WNW, go by orange Arcturus and along the length of Serpens before entering shadow in the SSW at 8:25 PM just above the Teapot asterism in Sagittarius.
There will be a bright pass on Wednesday from NW to SSE, starting at 7:33 PM in Canes Venatici, through Boötes and Corona Borealis, past the heads of Hercules and Ophiuchus, and through Aquila into Capricornus, where it will end at 7:39 PM.
Keep your eye on the C shape of Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. A recurrent nova seems due to appear there any day now, known as T Coronae Borealis, or the Blaze Star. Finder charts and exposition here.
No visible pass Thursday, but on Friday at 7:34 PM the station will go from the W to the S, from below Arcturus, above very bright Venus, and along the length of Scorpius, ending at 7:38 PM.
If you’re a morning person, and have a good eastern horizon, look starting about 45 minutes before sunrise for Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS low above the glow of dawn. This bright comet may put on quite a show in the evening sky in the second week of October after its perihelion passage.
Hasta nebula,
Chuck
No sign of T CrB yet, but comet C/2023 A3 was easily visible in binoculars in the west just after sunset this evening.