I was out at 56 degrees north, 103 W at about 7:30 pm local time, which is
about 3 hours after sunset. Laid out on a beach at -10C (+5 F) with the
waves tinkling the ice along the shore in the dark, with an ocassional
groan as the pack shifted into the beach. In the 40 mins of watching, I
saw 4 satellites tracking east to west and 2 going north to south. It'd be
interesting to have a database of these, so you could tell what you were
seeing. Maybe there's too much junk up there to sort out by time and earth
observation point.

I also saw 2 meteorites, one of which broke into 3 pieces. Very cool. The
milky way was very bright. No artificial light for about 200 miles in any
direction. Just us, the elk and the deer.

SW reception was excellent. Took the travelling radio, the Sangean ATS
606A. Getting FM from 450 miles away. BBC 5975 and RN 6165 came through
without the whip extended. Tons of Spanish stations. Lots of religious
loonies plugging up the air. This was a spectacular reception situation.
Listened mostly with the 23 ft roll-up. Had to temper the listening
though, this was our anniversary trip after all. Nothing like a good
radio, some fine port, a hot tub, some elk bugleing and the woman you love,
in cabin in the woods, with no-one else anywhere nearby (better put the
last of the list first!)

"uncle arnie" wrote in message
...
I was out at 56 degrees north, 103 W at about 7:30 pm local time, which is
about 3 hours after sunset. Laid out on a beach at -10C (+5 F) with the
waves tinkling the ice along the shore in the dark, with an ocassional
groan as the pack shifted into the beach. In the 40 mins of watching, I
saw 4 satellites tracking east to west and 2 going north to south. It'd
be
interesting to have a database of these, so you could tell what you were
seeing. Maybe there's too much junk up there to sort out by time and
earth
observation point.

That one's easy. There's all kind of satellite tracking software all over
the internet. A quick search under "satellite tracking" should bring in more
hits than you know what to do with. I used to use several different programs
myself, but that was a few years ago and so I couldn't make any
recommendations. (I had to give it up because of the light pollution around
where I live.)

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 09:31 pm, bug posted to
rec.radio.shortwave: %MM

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 20:14:46 -0600, uncle arnie
wrote:

I was out at 56 degrees north, 103 W at about 7:30 pm local time, which is
about 3 hours after sunset. Laid out on a beach at -10C (+5 F) with the
waves tinkling the ice along the shore in the dark, with an ocassional
groan as the pack shifted into the beach. In the 40 mins of watching, I
saw 4 satellites tracking east to west and 2 going north to south. It'd
be interesting to have a database of these, so you could tell what you
were
seeing. Maybe there's too much junk up there to sort out by time and
earth observation point.

I also saw 2 meteorites, one of which broke into 3 pieces. Very cool. The
milky way was very bright. No artificial light for about 200 miles in any
direction. Just us, the elk and the deer.

SW reception was excellent. Took the travelling radio, the Sangean ATS
606A. Getting FM from 450 miles away. BBC 5975 and RN 6165 came through
without the whip extended. Tons of Spanish stations. Lots of religious
loonies plugging up the air. This was a spectacular reception situation.
Listened mostly with the 23 ft roll-up. Had to temper the listening
though, this was our anniversary trip after all. Nothing like a good
radio, some fine port, a hot tub, some elk bugleing and the woman you
love, in cabin in the woods, with no-one else anywhere nearby (better put
the last of the list first!)


Everything in your post sounds absolutely wonderful!

By the way, where on this 3rd rock from the Sun are you and the Mrs.
taking in your anniversary?


bug

Northern Saskatchewan. We're back now. No telephone service (cell or
land), no computer, no teenagers. It was our 20th.

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 09:29 pm, Honus posted
to rec.radio.shortwave: %MM


"uncle arnie" wrote in message
...
I was out at 56 degrees north, 103 W at about 7:30 pm local time, which
is
about 3 hours after sunset. Laid out on a beach at -10C (+5 F) with the
waves tinkling the ice along the shore in the dark, with an ocassional
groan as the pack shifted into the beach. In the 40 mins of watching, I
saw 4 satellites tracking east to west and 2 going north to south. It'd
be
interesting to have a database of these, so you could tell what you were
seeing. Maybe there's too much junk up there to sort out by time and
earth
observation point.

That one's easy. There's all kind of satellite tracking software all over
the internet. A quick search under "satellite tracking" should bring in
more hits than you know what to do with. I used to use several different
programs myself, but that was a few years ago and so I couldn't make any
recommendations. (I had to give it up because of the light pollution
around where I live.)

Thanks, I'll have a go.

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/toc.asp?s=Tracking

On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 03:47 pm, Markeau posted to
rec.radio.shortwave: %MM

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/toc.asp?s=Tracking

Thanks, but it wants a "zip code" and I don't have one of those, not being
in your country.

uncle arnie wrote:
On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 03:47 pm, Markeau
posted to rec.radio.shortwave: %MM

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/toc.asp?s=Tracking

Thanks, but it wants a "zip code" and I don't have one of those, not
being in your country.

Drill down further, they all use latitude/longitude as well
http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/Jpass/20/

"uncle arnie" &mex. wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 03:47 pm, Markeau posted to
rec.radio.shortwave: %MM

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/toc.asp?s=Tracking

Thanks, but it wants a "zip code" and I don't have one of those, not being
in your country.

Keep looking on the web. For most programs you'll need latitude and
longitude, sometimes altitude as well or so I've heard. I'm at sea level
basically, so that was never an issue for me. You'll also need to download
orbit info on occasion, so whatever program you pick probably isn't going to
be accurate "right out of the box". Satellite orbits degrade and/or are
adjusted, and you'll have to download the new info. (They're called
elements, or element sets...elsets for short.) It's easy enough; just
something you need to be aware of. There are also elements for shuttle
flights (SST), etc. and for obvious reasons you'll need to download elements
after each launch. I've seen the shuttle go overhead, which is a pretty rare
occurrence considering the part of the world that I live in. (Seattle.) Very
cool, and worth the effort. If you really get into this sort of thing,
you'll also want to keep an eye out for Iridium flares. Exceptionally cool!

Damn. All of this reminiscing makes me wish I'd moved -out- of the city.
sigh I've seen some neat things up there!

Oh, hell...I'll look those Iridium flares up right now.......and here we go:

http://satobs.org/iridium.html

The photos are neat, but they can't do justice to the real thing. I was out
on the Puget Sound heading back to the harbor with my brother in law at the
helm late one dark night when I saw one overhead. Too breathtaking for
words. By the time I could point it out it was gone, and I knew I wouldn't
have been able to describe how magnificent it was...so I kept it to myself.
They're that neat.

And since I'm in a Googling mood, this will help the novice (and expert)
satellite observer:

http://satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 20:14:46 -0600, uncle arnie
wrote:

I was out at 56 degrees north, 103 W at about 7:30 pm local time, which is
about 3 hours after sunset. Laid out on a beach at -10C (+5 F) with the
waves tinkling the ice along the shore in the dark, with an ocassional
groan as the pack shifted into the beach. In the 40 mins of watching, I
saw 4 satellites tracking east to west and 2 going north to south. It'd be
interesting to have a database of these, so you could tell what you were
seeing. Maybe there's too much junk up there to sort out by time and earth
observation point.

http://www.heavens-above.com will generate information to
allow identification of viewable satellites pre- or post-observation.
Also google for mission planning software.

You might want to follow the
news:sci-astro-satellites.visual-observe group for further info on
identification resources. People often post questions of the form "I
saw something traveling direction between star1 and
connstellation2 on date at time. What might it have been?" In
many cases, the object is identified by other posters, with a
reference to the source of the information.

Honus wrote:

I've seen the shuttle go overhead, which is a pretty rare
occurrence considering the part of the world that I live in. (Seattle.)

It may be rare to see the Shuttle because of your weather there but it's
not at all rare for the Shuttle to pass over the northwest US.


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