Shuttle & ISS early Monday morning

All across the eastern third of the country, there is a chance tomorrow morning to see the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle fly overhead 20-25 minutes after the Shuttle undocks -- and they'll be surrounded by an awesome celestial show. Bright planet Venus and a slender crescent Moon will be side-by-side, with Saturn nearby and Mars and Mercury on either side of them, and Comet 17P Holmes in the sky as well.

The location of the ISS and Shuttle in the sky will differ depending on where you're located, but they'll flying overhead around the same time everywhere. They'll be directly over the Tallahassee area at 5:51 AM EST, Jacksonville at 5:52, Myrtle Beach at 5:53, Virginia Beach at 5:54, the Atlantic Ocean south of Long Island at 5:55, off Cape Cod at 5:56, and Halifax at 5:57. At each of those times, they'll be visible for hundred of miles in all directions. You can get details for your location at Heavens Above.

Here's what the ISS's path over Knoxville will look like:

Because the flyover will be very soon after undocking, I suspect the spacecrafts will be so close together that they'll be barely distinguishable, like when I saw them over Notre Dame, rather than two distinct points of light, like they were over Nashville. Regardless, with everything else that'll be in the sky, it should be quite a sight. I'm planning to get up early -- very early -- and head over to one of the dark-sky viewing sites used by the Smoky Mountain Astronomical Society.

There should be another flyover Tuesday morning at around 6:15 AM EST, and that one could be more like the Nashville sighting where the ISS and Shuttle are two very distinct lights in the sky. But I'll post more about that later if I decide to get up and see it, too.

Comments

[Mike]

I have to laugh, Brendan, that events occurring at roughly 6am are qualifies as at night by you in the headline, and then as in the morning in the post text...

[Brendan Loy]

Oops. Good point, Mike. I just fixed the headline.