Tuesday 22 January 2013

International Space Station over Australia and New Zealand

See the International Space Station (ISS) fly over Australia and New Zealand. 

Source: Chris Hadfield
There are many good viewing opportunities of the International Space Station this week for people in Australia and New Zealand.  Below is a list of links that take you to the end of this article where there is a list of several major cities in Australia and New Zealand listing times and where to look in the sky to see the Space station. 

The image to the right is of a Sunrise as viewed from the space station, the astronauts would see several of these per day.

We have included the following locations

AUSTRALIA 

Since my first Space Station post many people have asked me how can they work out when they can see it for their location, there are several ways to do this I have listed a few here 
  1. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/  This is a NASA site that lets you see when the ISS and other satellites are flying overhead, you can enter GPS coordinates or your city name, and this site will show you when the next several over passes are happening. This site also will show you when about 400 other satellites are passing over head as well. 
  2. http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ This is an email alert service from NASA and will email you for your location whenever the ISS is going to over pass your area. 
  3. There are many small apps that you can get for iOS, Android, Windows and many other phones / tablets that will show you what is in the sky above you. Many of these will also include alarms that will warn you as the ISS or other satellites are about to pass.
  4. Stare at the sky, until you see the third brightest object move overhead ;) although this sounds silly, its not really, this was meant to encourage people to look up at the stars. If you do it often enough you will eventually notice the ISS.
For the last few weeks I have been following Chris Hadfield on Google+ and his amazing photos that he takes from the space station, and the geek in me thought it was pretty cool to watch a twitter conversation between Captain Kirk and Chris Hadfield.

Take a walk outside, look up at the stars, wonder what is out there, show the kids and explain to them that there are 6 men living up there inside a Space Station, a space station that is a combined effort of many planets of Earth. Hopefully this will encourage them to become curious and want to learn more about the stars, space and what can be done out there.

Australian and New Zealand cities with times when you can see the ISS overhead. 


Instructions


It is very easy to see the ISS with your naked eye. Basically look for your nearest location, anything within 100 or 200 km you can use, look for the date and time and as you move across the columns, the next one shows you for how long you should be able to see the ISS, the next column shows you how high in the sky it will be, 0' is the horizon, and 90' is directly overhead the approach is from which direction it will approach from, and departure is from where you will lose sight of it. The degrees before approach and departure tell you how far above the horizon it should be visible for, I basically ignore these.

Here is how I find the ISS in the sky: walk to the local park, so that I have a lower horizon, look in the direction that I am expecting it to come from if we use Brisbane Jan 22 as an example, I would be looking roughly South South East (SSE) and draw a line in my head of where it will disappear and keep watching that line and then it’s pretty easy to notice a bright moving object going across the sky.

If there is obscured sky, I work out how far through the arc it would be and look there for the Brisbane example, since it is only 2 minutes - after I minute I would be looking along the expected line of travel about 1/2 way along that line. 



Australia

Brisbane



Local Date TimeDuration (min)Maximum ElevationApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/08:29 PM
2
17
10 above S17 above SSE
Wed Jan 23/07:41 PM
< 1
10
10 above SSE10 above SE
Wed Jan 23/09:16 PM
< 1
18
18 above SW18 above SW
Thu Jan 24/08:26 PM
2
48
19 above SSW48 above SSE
Fri Jan 25/07:35 PM
4
25
11 above SSW17 above E
Sat Jan 26/08:22 PM
2
37
23 above WSW37 above NW
Sun Jan 27/07:32 PM
4
89
36 above SW17 above NE
Mon Jan 28/08:19 PM
2
11
10 above WNW10 above NW
Tue Jan 29/07:28 PM
3
23
20 above WNW11 above N
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Sydney



Local Date TimeDuration (min)Maximum ElevationApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:28 PM
3
34
17 above SSW28 above ESE
Wed Jan 23/08:37 PM
5
20
10 above SSW10 above E
Wed Jan 23/10:15 PM
1
30
16 above WSW30 above W
Thu Jan 24/09:25 PM
2
77
34 above SW41 above NNE
Fri Jan 25/08:35 PM
5
50
27 above SSW11 above ENE
Sat Jan 26/09:21 PM
3
23
16 above W15 above N
Sun Jan 27/08:31 PM
4
48
36 above W11 above NNE
Tue Jan 29/08:27 PM
3
15
14 above WNW11 above NNW
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Melbourne



Local Date TimeDuration (min)Maximum ElevationApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:27 PM
5
36
20 above SSW11 above E
Tue Jan 22/11:03 PM
2
19
10 above W19 above WNW
Wed Jan 23/10:13 PM
2
42
24 above WSW35 above N
Thu Jan 24/09:24 PM
4
84
43 above SW12 above NE
Fri Jan 25/10:09 PM
3
15
10 above W12 above NNW
Sat Jan 26/09:20 PM
4
28
23 above W11 above N

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Canberra



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:28 PM
3
36
20 above SSW22 above E
Tue Jan 22/11:04 PM
< 1
11
10 above W11 above W
Wed Jan 23/08:39 PM
3
21
21 above SSE11 above E
Wed Jan 23/10:14 PM
2
36
17 above WSW36 above NW
Thu Jan 24/09:25 PM
3
77
34 above SW27 above NE
Fri Jan 25/08:38 PM
< 1
16
16 above ENE11 above ENE
Fri Jan 25/10:10 PM
2
12
10 above WNW12 above NW
Sat Jan 26/09:20 PM
4
24
19 above W12 above N
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Hobart



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:27 PM
4
83
42 above WSW13 above NE
Wed Jan 23/10:12 PM
4
19
10 above W14 above NNW
Thu Jan 24/09:23 PM
4
33
22 above W11 above NNE
Sat Jan 26/09:18 PM
3
13
10 above W10 above NNW
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Adelaide



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Mon Jan 21/11:22 PM
< 1
13
11 above WSW13 above WSW
Tue Jan 22/08:56 PM
4
15
10 above S11 above ESE
Tue Jan 22/10:33 PM
1
50
22 above WSW50 above WSW
Wed Jan 23/09:43 PM
3
59
27 above SSW30 above ENE
Thu Jan 24/08:52 PM
5
31
17 above SSW10 above E
Thu Jan 24/10:28 PM
2
20
10 above W20 above NW
Fri Jan 25/09:39 PM
3
41
28 above W21 above NNE
Sat Jan 26/08:49 PM
4
88
43 above SW10 above NE
Sun Jan 27/09:34 PM
3
14
10 above W10 above NNW
Mon Jan 28/08:46 PM
2
26
26 above NW11 above N
Back to Top

Perth



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Mon Jan 21/08:50 PM
3
16
11 above S15 above SE
Mon Jan 21/10:25 PM
< 1
12
10 above WSW12 above WSW
Tue Jan 22/08:01 PM
1
10
10 above SSE10 above SE
Tue Jan 22/09:36 PM
< 1
35
23 above SW35 above SW
Wed Jan 23/08:46 PM
3
41
18 above SSW33 above E
Thu Jan 24/07:55 PM
5
22
10 above SSW10 above E
Thu Jan 24/09:32 PM
1
22
13 above WSW22 above W
Fri Jan 25/08:43 PM
2
56
32 above WSW36 above NNE
Sat Jan 26/07:52 PM
5
64
28 above SSW11 above NE
Sun Jan 27/08:38 PM
4
17
12 above W11 above NNW
Mon Jan 28/07:48 PM
4
35
30 above W11 above NNE
Wed Jan 30/07:44 PM
2
11
10 above WNW10 above NW
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Darwin



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Sat Jan 26/09:27 PM
< 1
10
10 above SSW10 above SSW
Sun Jan 27/08:37 PM
1
15
10 above S15 above SSE
Mon Jan 28/09:24 PM
< 1
17
17 above WSW17 above WSW
Tue Jan 29/08:32 PM
3
74
12 above SSW63 above ENE
Wed Jan 30/07:42 PM
5
27
11 above S11 above ENE
Thu Jan 31/08:30 PM
3
22
20 above W15 above NNW
Fri Feb 01/07:40 PM
4
60
44 above WSW10 above NNE
Sun Feb 03/07:36 PM
2
14
13 above WNW10 above NNW
Tue Feb 05/06:25 AM
< 1
10
10 above NE10 above NE
Back to Top

Cairns



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Fri Jan 25/09:12 PM
< 1
12
10 above SSW12 above SSW
Sat Jan 26/08:22 PM
2
20
11 above S20 above SSE
Sun Jan 27/07:34 PM
1
10
10 above SSE10 above ESE
Sun Jan 27/09:09 PM
< 1
16
16 above WSW16 above WSW
Mon Jan 28/08:19 PM
2
87
20 above SW77 above NNE
Tue Jan 29/07:27 PM
5
34
12 above SSW13 above ENE
Wed Jan 30/08:15 PM
3
19
17 above W14 above NNW
Thu Jan 31/07:25 PM
4
48
38 above W10 above NNE
Sat Feb 02/07:21 PM
2
12
11 above WNW10 above NNW

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Maryborough, Queensland



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/08:30 PM
1
13
10 above S13 above SSE
Thu Jan 24/08:25 PM
2
32
12 above SSW32 above S
Fri Jan 25/07:35 PM
4
19
10 above S14 above ESE
Sat Jan 26/08:23 PM
1
49
26 above WSW49 above WNW
Sun Jan 27/07:32 PM
4
65
24 above SSW19 above NE
Mon Jan 28/08:18 PM
3
14
10 above W12 above NW
Tue Jan 29/07:29 PM
4
30
24 above W10 above N
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Alice springs



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:34 PM
< 1
11
11 above S11 above S
Thu Jan 24/09:30 PM
< 1
23
15 above SSW23 above SSW
Fri Jan 25/08:39 PM
3
25
11 above SSW25 above SE
Sat Jan 26/07:50 PM
3
13
10 above S10 above ESE
Sat Jan 26/09:26 PM
1
25
16 above WSW25 above W
Sun Jan 27/08:36 PM
3
82
30 above SW38 above NE
Mon Jan 28/07:44 PM
6
39
12 above SSW10 above ENE
Tue Jan 29/08:32 PM
3
20
17 above W11 above N
Wed Jan 30/07:43 PM
4
47
42 above W10 above NNE
Back to Top


New Zealand

Auckland


Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:56 PM
3
53
26 above SSW29 above E
Wed Jan 23/09:05 PM
5
30
16 above SSW10 above E
Wed Jan 23/10:41 PM
2
25
13 above W25 above WNW
Thu Jan 24/09:52 PM
3
50
30 above WSW24 above NNE
Fri Jan 25/09:02 PM
4
78
43 above SW10 above NE
Sat Jan 26/09:47 PM
4
17
13 above W10 above N
Sun Jan 27/08:58 PM
4
33
29 above WNW11 above NNE
Back to Top

Christchurch



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:55 PM
4
65
40 above WSW12 above NE
Wed Jan 23/10:40 PM
3
15
11 above W12 above NNW
Thu Jan 24/09:50 PM
4
26
17 above W11 above NNE
Sat Jan 26/09:46 PM
2
11
10 above WNW10 above NW
Back to Top


Wellington



Local Date Time
Duration (min)
Maximum Elevation
ApproachDeparture
Tue Jan 22/09:55 PM
4
77
33 above WSW19 above NE
Wed Jan 23/10:41 PM
3
16
11 above W15 above NNW
Thu Jan 24/09:51 PM
4
28
18 above W12 above NNE
Sat Jan 26/09:47 PM
2
11
10 above WNW10 above NNW
Back to Top

 




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