Starship Asterisk*

Spacecrafts Streak Over Colorado

Explanation: Have you ever seen a "star" drifting slowly overhead, but not known what it was? Sometimes even pointing it out to friends or family will only lead to a shrug. What you are seeing, most likely, is a spacecraft in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight as it circles the Earth once every 90 minutes or so. Two of the brighter spacecraft in the present day sky are the International Space Station (ISS), and, when it is up, a NASA space shuttle. As relative orientations change, the brightness of reflections may also change, sometimes suddenly. Another source of bright drifting objects, Iridium communication satellites, may even appear to flare up to become brighter than any other sky object for a few seconds. Pictured above, two bright points of light separated by only a few degrees drifted together across the sky above Lory State Park, Colorado, USA last week, just after sunset. These lights were were the ISS and the space shuttle Discovery, which had undocked from the ISS a few hours earlier. Given a digital fusion of many separate camera exposures and a wide angle perspective, the pair appears above as streaks in front of point-like stars. Web sites now exist that can help you identify unknown "drifters" and even predict the time of the next pass of the ISS visible from your location.

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the pair appears above as steaks in front of point-like stars.

I get hungry just thinking about it.

Guest wrote:

the pair appears above as steaks in front of point-like stars.

I get hungry just thinking about it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2cFji4C ... re=related[/youtube]

Cumbersome word--is it possible the plural of spacecraft is just spacecraft? Like deer?

James Manista wrote:
Cumbersome word--is it possible the plural of spacecraft is just spacecraft? Like deer?

No, deer: air shafts, bank drafts, life rafts, skin grafts...

I notice on the picture, and when I saw them overhead where I am, that the two spacecraft are not in the same orbit plane. When they separate, is part of the separation burn out-of-plane?

spacecraft (plural spacecrafts or spacecraft)

Usage notes

• The correct plural form is "spacecraft", however spacecrafts is quite common.

DLH wrote:I notice on the picture, and when I saw them overhead where I am, that the two spacecraft are not in the same orbit plane. When they separate, is part of the separation burn out-of-plane?

They are probably separated mostly in altitude in the same plane;
however, it is unlikely that the ISS orbit plane exactly coincides with Cape Canaveral so
part of the separation burn is out-of-plane (though the Shuttle can compensate for that later as a plane).
(Am I plain about that?)

Oh, I should have not had the volume up so much on my laptop for one of those links!

bystander wrote:spacecraft (plural spacecrafts or spacecraft)

Usage notes

• The correct plural form is "spacecraft", however spacecrafts is quite common.

I would think that if two Shuttles were on the ground they would be "spacecraft" ready to launch
but the ISS and a Shuttle are "spacecrafts" in space.

A school of fish contains all the same kind but a group of fishes contains different kinds.

owlice wrote:
Oh, I should have not had the volume up so much on my laptop for one of those links!

Yippee Ti Yi Yo, get along little dogies
It's your misfortune and none of my own.

lol! Not that one, but I'd pay money to hear you sing that!

owlice wrote:Oh, I should have not had the volume up so much on my laptop for one of those links!

Did you hear the birdies sing; and the dog barking?
Art; I liked your Roy Rogers video!

orin stepanek wrote:

owlice wrote:Oh, I should have not had the volume up so much on my laptop for one of those links!

Did you hear the birdies sing; and the dog barking?

Wasn't referring to that link, either, though enjoyed hearing the cardinals and the crows in it! The dog made the old cat's ears perk up.

another digital dupe

I wish I had thought to try to photograph the ISS and Discovery when I watched them pass overhead last week! It hadn't even occurred to me to try.

: has Git Along Little Dogies playing on the radio in her head :

I remember seeing these two! I live in Salt Lake City, but when I saw them they streaked north through Auriga towards Ursa Minor...

I remember thinking it was weird to see two satellites so bright streaking north... does anyone know why they would appear to head north for me when in this picture they seem to be going in the east-west direction? It was about 7:37pm local time for me when I saw them.

The stars seem quite bright, especially for twilight. I can't see Lynx naked eye even in a fully dark sky. Is this solely due to long exposure photography, or were the stars digitally enhanced?

What on earth is the streak across the earth?

My favorite program for spotting satellites overhead is "Orbitron"- I've had it for years. I see both the ISS and the HST a couple times a month. Every once in a while I happen to catch one of the others in the "visible" file.

orhay wrote:What on earth is the streak across the earth?

Yeah, that's what I wanna know!

weasle wrote:

orhay wrote:What on earth is the streak across the earth?

Yeah, that's what I wanna know!

You mean the red colored linear feature in the grass?? I think its just a trail made by humans walking consistently on that area killing the grass that would otherwise be there. "Perhaps small local variations in topography make that particular path over the surface desirable to get to some other location, scenic view, water source, etc," said some know-it-all sitting next to me, who then suggested finding the gradient of the field. I told him these people were probably being sarcastic.

however spacecrafts is quite common.

Sorry, I don't care how common it is, "spacecrafts" is not a word any literate person would use.

graywave wrote: Sorry, I don't care how common it is, "spacecrafts" is not a word any literate person would use.

Obviously, this is incorrect.

The headline says:

Spacecrafts Streak Over Colorado

but in the body of the text it says:

Two of the brighter spacecraft in the present day sky are...


So even this article does not use the plural consistently!