I Sun elevation for ISS visibility

  • I
  • Thread starter Thread starter Cristiano
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Iss Sun
AI Thread Summary
Several websites are utilized to track visible passes of the ISS from specific locations. Calculations reveal low Sun elevations at the ISS, such as a magnitude of -3.8 and a Sun elevation of -19.9 degrees. This low elevation suggests significant atmospheric refraction, raising questions about the minimum Sun elevation needed for the ISS to remain outside Earth's shadow. The discussion invites the sharing of formulas used for these calculations. Understanding these factors is crucial for accurately predicting ISS visibility.
Cristiano
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
I use several web sites to search the visible passes of the ISS over a given location.
Then I calculate the Sun elevation as seen from the ISS and I get surprisingly low elevations; for example, I get ISS magnitude= -3.8 and Sun elevation at the ISS= -19.9 deg.
I suppose that the atmospheric refraction is very high, but what's the lowest Sun elevation to consider the ISS outside the Earth's shadow?

Thank you
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
You can look up the ISS height and the radius of Earth and calculate it yourself.

-19.9 is just at the edge of visibility.
 
Please, would you post the formulas?
 
Is a homemade radio telescope realistic? There seems to be a confluence of multiple technologies that makes the situation better than when I was a wee lad: software-defined radio (SDR), the easy availability of satellite dishes, surveillance drives, and fast CPUs. Let's take a step back - it is trivial to see the sun in radio. An old analog TV, a set of "rabbit ears" antenna, and you're good to go. Point the antenna at the sun (i.e. the ears are perpendicular to it) and there is...
This thread is dedicated to the beauty and awesomeness of our Universe. If you feel like it, please share video clips and photos (or nice animations) of space and objects in space in this thread. Your posts, clips and photos may by all means include scientific information; that does not make it less beautiful to me (n.b. the posts must of course comply with the PF guidelines, i.e. regarding science, only mainstream science is allowed, fringe/pseudoscience is not allowed). n.b. I start this...
Back
Top