Heavens Above Problem

[NickW]

I probably shouldn't be posting this here, but here is my problem...

I have tried to catch the ISS and some iridium flares, but can never catch them. I have configured my location and time (based on the small town I live in), but I just cant get it to work for me. Is it just me, or do I need to shoot an email off to the heavens-above people

[mahesh]

Hi NickW....for my shiny tuppence's squeak....

would you like to try this, as well, for real time tracking. It might help you zoom in, as it were, for an 'overhead' pass....
ISS is passing along USA / Canada border just now...looking great....


http://www.n2yo.com/?s=32298

it has data for iridiums too.

[NEOWatcher]

I have tried to catch the ISS and some iridium flares, but can never catch them.
Do you ever get any sightings that are close enough to see if you are off by some amount? ISS may be off due to a boost that may not have been updated yet in H-A, and I'm not sure how reliable an Iridium flare prediction is. (although; It's been fairly reliable from my own experience)
I have configured my location and time (based on the small town I live in), but I just cant get it to work for me.
Have you tried the different methods of configuring? Try both the town selection and the google selection and note the latitude and longitude. Also; find a different resource to determine your latitude and longitude to see if it matches.
My guess is that some entry somewhere might have the location wrong. I doubt they could get it the predictions wrong if the lat and long are correct since it's all a bunch of formulas.

[mahesh]

Nick..., is this where you are at?
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=bandon%20oregon&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl ?

nice "sea views", eh!

[NickW]

find a different resource to determine your latitude and longitude to see if it matches

I checked a couple of resources for lat and long last night after a failed attempt at an iridium flare. My numbers seem to be ok, I will check them again to night and see if I can get anything overhead (as long as the clear skies hold).

Nick..., is this where you are at?
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...-8&sa=N&tab=wl ?

nice "sea views", eh!

Yep, that is exactly where I am at :)

And the sea views can be stunning sometimes. :)

[mahesh]

Nick... I like your avatar. Did you shoot it yourself? Nice.
Do you have a larger copy of it?

[NickW]

I like your avatar. Did you shoot it yourself? Nice.
Do you have a larger copy of it?
Yes I did shoot it myself :)
I do have a larger copy of it, but it is on my other computer, which is having problems itself.

[RickJ]

Did you set the time zone correctly? Is your computer adjusting for daylight time correctly?

If you entered the longitude manually did you use a minus sign?

These are all errors I've seen that lead to incorrect predictions.

Rick

[NickW]

Did you set the time zone correctly?
Yep, its set for Pacific, which is where I am.
Is your computer adjusting for daylight time correctly?
I think it is, it matches the rest of my clocks in the house. :)
If you entered the longitude manually did you use a minus sign?
I did enter it manually. I took the numbers on the front page and in a gps website to make sure it would show up as my town, which it does.

Iridium 81 is supposed to be going over tonight at approx 2300. Its only going to be at 17 degrees altitude, so hopefully it will clear the trees I need it to clear.

[RickJ]

When I enter Bandon, Oregon into Heaven's above it says the flare is at 23:26:37. I guess that could be approximately 2300 but these only last a few seconds so you have to be dead on time. 10 seconds late and its gone.

The URL it gave me is:
"http://www.heavens-above.com/?lat=43.11602&lng=-124.41536&loc=Bandon%2c+Oregon&alt=0&tz=PST"
I put it in quotes so it didn't shorten it. Yours may vary very slightly in the last few decimal places but should be quite close, the town isn't very big. I used sea level. Accuracy here need only be a few hundred feet so that should suffice.

I have seen Iridium flares that weren't predicted and some have failed to show or to reach the predicted magnitude. These are rare however. Never saw a miss of more than a few seconds for the ISS however. They seem right on top of orbit changes.

Good luck they are fun to watch.

Rick

[NickW]

Hopefully I will catch 81 tonight. I will let you know if it is successfull, but a mag 6 flare shouldn't be to hard to miss. I will try to catch some pictures of it, but without a tripod it might be hard to catch it.

Best of luck to me I guess :)

[NickW]

Ok, i caught a very terrible picture of iridium 81, but it was about 13 degrees higher then HA said. I will post the picture in the astrophotography section in just a little bit.

EDIT: The time was dead on, and it was a pretty bright flare, but it looks like I made a mistake in the coordinates or the timezone which I didn't notice the first time.

[slang]

it looks like I made a mistake in the coordinates or the timezone which I didn't notice the first time.

To check that, Heavens Above has a page "What time is it?" under the Miscellaneous heading. It will show you what time HA thinks it currently is at your location.

[NickW]

Thanks slang! I didnt even notice that. :)

[rjgjr]

I live in Gold Beach. I initially entered coordinates from my GPS and all events are always spot on to the second and matches HA maps perfectly. Once you get things set right you won't have any problems

[rjgjr]

Here are several images I've taken, it's been awhile since I've posted so hopefully they load. Our biggest problem here is getting an evening without fog, clouds or rain. But when it's clear we sure have dark skies.

[mahesh]

Hi Nick / hi rj...
There are lovely captures of the skies.
The twin iridium flares and the vast background, are a superb sight. Beautiful capture. rj..

thanks for sharing.