Look, Up In The Sky!

Astrophysics must be a mathematician’s dream. With no environmental factors to distort the outcomes, the behavior of celestial bodies can be predicted with absolute precision based solely on principles of physics, which is, at its core, little more than the application of mathematics to the movement of energy and objects in the real world. Although the equations necessary to, say, determine the timing, velocity and vectors necessary to cause an Earth-launched rocket to intersect with the path of a comet are frighteningly complex, once solved, such events can be predicted with astonishing precision.

I took advantage of these principles last week, and managed to snag a view of both the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Thanks to this simple but effective website, I determined that the ISS would travel over our area at an angle high enough to the horizon to be visible above the nearby mountains and rooftops. Those NASA propeller-heads know their stuff. At precisely the time indicated, in exactly the location predicted, a bright spot of light flew across the sky from the northwest. (If you are ever inclined to look for the ISS, watch for a dot in the sky that is about the same size and brightness as Venus at its most prominent, moving at about the speed of a low-flying aircraft. Take the time; it’s quick and easy to do.)

Following the same path, about two minutes behind, was a slightly smaller light, the Atlantis. The Shuttle had undocked from the ISS two days before, and would land in California the next day. (No, we did not drive out to see it, but we turned on the television to watch the landing about two seconds before the wheels touched down.) As both man-made satellites tracked overhead, they each faded into red and then disappeared as they flew out of the sunlight that had already disappeared for us, 200 miles below, about an hour earlier. For a space geek like me, it was a brief but thoroughly enjoyable moment of connection, knowing that there were people in those little blobs of light streaking over us.