Sunday, August 19, 2012

colors of summer + a rare satellite bird



the new photo friday theme is: Summer Colors.

red blue pink yellow azur
i thought.
and went looking for this sun reflection photo.

& a sky moment from last night: it’s a weekend of high temperatures here in Germany, today maybe a record 40° centigrade. we sat outside yesterday evening, watching stars and trying to spot satellites. there was a smaller one crossing, and following its course, i said: “i wish ISS (the international space station) would pass through one of these days again”.

5 minutes later, it appeared. if you once seen ISS, you recognize it – it’s much larger and brighter than all the other satellites. we checked with a sat-app. and yes: ISS. it was like spotting a rare bird. so good.

i just looked for a video and found this timelapse: International Space Station Flyby

PS: there's also a webpage that lets you calculate your local passing times of ISS and satellites, and that gives the current position of ISS: Heavens above  (you need to register with your local coordinates for the site to calculate your local crossings.)

2 comments:

Dorothee said...

it's so interesting to see all the different colors and angles that come up in photo friday for each theme.

Parmanu said...

This bit about ISS is fascinating. I didn't know we could see it in this fashion, calculating its position and planning the sighting. Thank you!