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It's one of the few things left in too-bright places that can introduce someone to the wonders of space in a way images and video can't. Some neighbors finally
by Kye 3y ago
It's one of the few things left in too-bright places that can introduce someone to the wonders of space in a way images and video can't. Some neighbors finally stopped and asked why I stood at the road looking at the mostly starless sky most nights.
"Waiting for the space station." (and other satellites, but those are harder to see)
"I didn't know it was still a thing."
It started as a little dot on the horizon, barely visible in the hazy light from the city, then built to a blinding light above. I heard a "holy fuck" so I guess they were suitably wowed.
- UberFly 3y agoI once saw it go over by chance with a Japanese module closely following. It was very cool.
- globular-toast 3y agoIt's such a shame Iridium flares are no longer a thing. The ISS is in the sky a bit too long really. I've showed people and they thought it was a plane (despite telling them a planes lights would flash). A good Iridium flare was unmistakable though and quite the arresting sight. The last one I be tried to look for would have been perfect. It was supposed to happen on a friend's wedding night. It happened but was thoroughly unimpressive. I found out soon after the satellites were in the process of being decommissioned and flares were no longer happening as predicted. By now they're all gone and we just get boring objects like the Starlink satellites.
- kstrauser 3y agoI make my kids wave at it. There's a manned spaceship flying over our heads at 17,000 mile per hour. We see it, we wave.
- jiggawatts 3y agoSomething my partner and I noticed during the full lockdown of the pandemic was that the lack of aviation made it much easier to notice spacecraft. In a big city with an airport a moving light in the sky is almost always a jet at high altitude. But with nearly zero flights, it was more likely to be a satellite or the space station.