"The large-scale homogeneity of the universe makes it very difficult to believe that the structure of the universe is determined by anything so peripheral as some complicated molecular structure on a minor planet orbiting a very average star in the outer suburbs of a fairly typical galaxy."

— Steven Hawking

Riker Hill Astronomy Night

By JohnMiksits at Wed, 05/27/2009 - 9:27am

If clouds don't interfere, the International Spaces Station will be visible on Friday, May 29, 2009, during the telescope night at Riker Hill Art Park in Livingston, NJ.

ISS 08:37:43 pm WNW 08:40:02 46° -3.2 (very bright)

Lately, a growing number of observers are reporting intense "flares" coming from the International Space Station (ISS). During some nighttime flybys, the luminosity of the space station surges 10-fold or more. Some people have witnessed flares of magnitude -8 or twenty-five times brighter than Venus. A movie featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com shows what is happening: sunlight glints from the station's recently expanded solar arrays in a shadow-casting flash. Currently, the flares are unpredictable. You watch a flyby not knowing if one will happen or how bright it might be. That's what makes the hunt for "ISS flares" so much fun.

Thanks for the info SpaceWeather.com

SpaceStation flares

Submitted by ebfaulkner6a
on Sun, 06/07/2009 - 7:54pm

Whew! Thanks for that information. I thought I may have caused it while pointing my green laser during an observing session in Whiting.