More than half a century after Sputnik, our night sky is filled with satellites — one very large natural one and a multitude of artificial objects of almost every possible description.  There are even accidental satellites:  a glove, a tool box, a camera that astronauts misplaced during their trips outside their spacecraft.  On any clear dark night, a patient observer can see satellites glide over minutes apart.

Most of these are fainter than the stars of the Big Dipper, but  some are surprisingly bright.  This week, the largest of the artificial satellites, the International Space Station, will make several prominent passes over New England.  Here’s a list of some of the brighter passes, with the approximate directions the ISS will take across the sky:

W, 6/5   10:22 pm (EDT)   WSW --> NE

Th, 6/6     9:33 pm   WSW --> ENE

F, 6/7     10:21 pm   W --> NE

Sa, 6/8     9:32 pm   W --> NE

Tu, 6/11     11:56 pm   NW --> NE

Th, 6/13     11:55 pm   NW --> NNW

F, 6/14     11:06 pm   NW --> ENE

These times are calculated for the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire with the approximate directions where the ISS should become visible and disappear above the horizon.  Several websites, including a popular NASA site

   <http://spacewearther.com/flybys/>,

can calculate precise times for other observing sites and will also list less favorable appearances of the ISS and other satellites.  My favorite is the Heavens Above website at

   <http://www.heavens-above.com>.

This site also gives locator charts and passage times of fainter objects as well as the spectacular Iridium flares.

The Iridium network is a system of communications satellites in low orbit.  They are not easily seen except when the sun happens to reflect off their large polished solar panels, creating a brief, very bright flare of light. The Heavens Above site is the best one for listing flare appearances.  For the Lebanon-Hartford-Hanover area, some bright flares will appear on the following dates.  The first angle is the height above the horizon (90 deg would be directly overhead; 45 deg would be half way up and 23 deg would be approximately a quarter of the way up) and the second angle is the compass direction (90 degrees would be due east, 180 deg south and 341 degrees is roughly north-northwest):

Th, 6/6     6:26 pm   50 deg (311 deg, NW)

Th, 6/6     10:59 pm   30 deg (248 deg, WSW)

F, 6/7     8:34 pm   26 deg (340 deg, NNW)

F, 6/7     10:53 pm   31 deg (250 deg, WSW)

Sa, 6/8     8:28 pm   28 deg (339 deg, NNW)

Sa, 6/8     10:50 pm   29 deg (253 deg, WSW)

M, 6/10     10:44 pm   27 deg (257 deg, WSW)

These flares occur in bright daylight or in morning or evening twilight.  Someone unaware of these satellites would find a flare startling.  I’ve heard a caller describe what was almost certainly an Iridium flare to a baffled host of a talk radio program. 


OTHER EVENTS:

June 8:  New moon.

June 10:  Just after sunset, look toward the west-northwest for a very thin crescent moon setting left of Mercury and Venus.

June 14:  Earliest sunrise of the year.

June 21:  Summer, summer, summer!

June 27:  The latest sunset of 2013.

June 29:  Last quarter moon.

July 5:  Planet Earth is at aphelion, that point in its slightly elliptical orbit that is farthest from the sun.  We will reach perihelion, when Earth is closest to the sun, on January 4, 2014.  Feel the heat!


            Keep looking up!
             - Bob Hamlin
              <rhamlinatdartmouth.edu>

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