Space viewing highlights in Canberra from 15 May - including a rare Soyuz challenge

A photo showing the ISS and  Shuttle chasing it
From Astronomy Picture of the Day
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080604.html

If you've been following my posts about passes of the International Space Station over the Canberra area, then we have a rare treat coming up this week.

The ISS has some lovely bright passes - and so does the Soyuz spaceship as it chases down the ISS, while taking the next crew up. Soyuz launches Tuesday 15 May at 1.01pm. It will then be visible each dusk until Thursday.


The ISS had a beautiful bright pass this evening. The early clouds moved away and left the sky surprisingly clear. The ISS appeared exactly as I stepped out of the office - clear and as bright as Venus. The longest pass remaining this week of the ISS will be Wednesday. Clear nights are forecast, so set your alarm in your phone so you don't miss them.

LOCAL	DURATION	MAX ELEV	APPROACH	DEPARTURE
DATE/TIME	(MIN)	(DEG)	(DEG-DIR)	(DEG-DIR)
ISS:
Tue May 15/06:26 PM	2	37	27 above W	26 above S
Wed May 16/05:33 PM	4	81	45 above WNW	11 above SE
Wed May 16/07:09 PM	< 1	11	10 above SW	11 above SW
Thu May 17/06:15 PM	3	19	15 above WSW	12 above S
Sat May 19/06:03 PM	2	11	10 above SW	10 above S
Soyuz:
Tue May 15/06:12 PM	2	44	31 above W	25 above SSE
Wed May 16/06:09 PM	2	23	18 above WSW	16 above S
Thu May 17/06:15 PM	3	19	15 above WSW	12 above S

Wednesday should be good for taking a time-lapse photo. But you’ll need to be shooting as it goes away from you to the east rather than as it comes towards as the western sky will probably still be too light for a long exposure.

To take these you need a wider angle lens rather than telephoto, a tripod and a cable release. Set the camera on bulb and aperture to very small so the picture doesn’t get overwhelmed with ambient light. In these shots I took a few weeks back, I included some landscape for a frame of reference, plus Mars and Regulus.