Observing a Shuttle Launch from Europe
from Gerhard Holtkamp, 27. April 2011, 00:32
NOTE: The launch of Endeavour has now been put off until at least 8-MAY-2011. At that date there will be no opportunities to observe the Shuttle from Europe. The information in this blog is no longer valid.
If the weather cooperates those European observers where the sky is already sufficiently dark between 18:55 UT and 18:59 UT will be able to see the bright white Shuttle and just below a distinctly reddish ET quickly passing across the sky. As the ET will reenter less than an hour later over the Pacific Ocean this is the only time that the ET can be seen in flight.
At 18:59:10 UTC while passing right over the Balkan the Shuttle/ET will enter Earth shadow and within a few seconds dim and disappear from view.
The map shows the predicted groundtrack of Endeavour over Europe. Observers right at the groundtrack would see the Shuttle/ET pair rising in the (north-) western sky, flying right overhead and setting in the (south-) eastern sky. If you are north of the groundtrack Endeavour would appear lower in the sky in a southwesterly direction and if you are south of the track it will show lower in the northeastern sky.
At a distance of 800 km from the groundtrack the elevation of Endeavour will be about 10°, in 500 km distance it's 20°, from 200 km it's about 40° and correspondingly higher the closer you are.
When rising in the west the Shuttle and ET will be dim at first but then they quickly become brighter than the brightest stars and should be very obvious even to people not normally used to looking at the sky. If the sky is still fairly bright as will be the case in Central Germany you will need very clear skies and you probably see it only after the Shuttle is already in a southerly or south-easterly direction.
The best places for observation of this path on 2-MAY-2011 would be the Balkan states, Hungary, Romania, Italy and Greece where the sky is already darker.
A pair of binoculars might help to see it better particularly at those places where the sky is still bright.
The Shuttle Endeavour is now scheduled to lift off from Florida on Monday, 2-MAY-2011 at 18:34:00 UTC (20:34:00 CEST). Weather permitting some observers in Europe will be able to see the Shuttle and its External Tank 20 minutes later...
STS-134 is the final flight of the Shuttle Endeavour and the penultimate flight of the overall Shuttle program. Endeavour is to ferry an important experiment in fundamental physics, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02, to the International Space Station ISS.
If the weather cooperates those European observers where the sky is already sufficiently dark between 18:55 UT and 18:59 UT will be able to see the bright white Shuttle and just below a distinctly reddish ET quickly passing across the sky. As the ET will reenter less than an hour later over the Pacific Ocean this is the only time that the ET can be seen in flight.
At 18:59:10 UTC while passing right over the Balkan the Shuttle/ET will enter Earth shadow and within a few seconds dim and disappear from view.
The map shows the predicted groundtrack of Endeavour over Europe. Observers right at the groundtrack would see the Shuttle/ET pair rising in the (north-) western sky, flying right overhead and setting in the (south-) eastern sky. If you are north of the groundtrack Endeavour would appear lower in the sky in a southwesterly direction and if you are south of the track it will show lower in the northeastern sky. At a distance of 800 km from the groundtrack the elevation of Endeavour will be about 10°, in 500 km distance it's 20°, from 200 km it's about 40° and correspondingly higher the closer you are.
When rising in the west the Shuttle and ET will be dim at first but then they quickly become brighter than the brightest stars and should be very obvious even to people not normally used to looking at the sky. If the sky is still fairly bright as will be the case in Central Germany you will need very clear skies and you probably see it only after the Shuttle is already in a southerly or south-easterly direction.
The best places for observation of this path on 2-MAY-2011 would be the Balkan states, Hungary, Romania, Italy and Greece where the sky is already darker.
A pair of binoculars might help to see it better particularly at those places where the sky is still bright.
