· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Observing >> NEO Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 zeldaboy101 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/13/04 Loc: Maryland Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag       #4338755 - 01/25/11 09:07 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   If you haven't heard, the Nanosail-D, the first ever Solar Sail launched in space, made it into space on January 20th. It is easily visible when it passes overhead and it will be in orbit for 70-120 days before it re-enters the atmosphere and disintegrates. As it gets lower, it will get especially bright during flares, potentially 5 TO 10 TIMES BRIGHTER THAN VENUS!! To check when it is visible, you can use www.heavens-above.com, it is listed under the Satellites category. They also have an astrophotography contest, if you take a picture that includes the solar sail, whether it is a pictures of the sail through a telescope or if it's just a flare shot you can submit your photo and be eligible to win up to $500!! Details here: http://www.nanosail.org/ Nasa's press relase: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jan/HQ_11-027_NanoSail.html Here's hoping it really does reach a ridiculously bright magnitude! I bet we'll get a lot of the general public freaking out over a bright thing in the sky too! Jeremy Post Extras:       WillCarney Pooh-Bah Reged: 10/08/09 Loc: Bloomington, ILL Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: zeldaboy101]       #4339395 - 01/25/11 02:26 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   So far it's been reported as being very dim. Possibly the angles are not right for bright observation. Most trackers have reported it as being barely visible, if at all. William Post Extras:       zeldaboy101 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/13/04 Loc: Maryland Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: WillCarney]       #4339522 - 01/25/11 03:17 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Right now heavens-above says it'll be mag 4.5 tonight, which isn't likely even visible in my mag 4 backyard unless I get lucky with binos. Hopefully the predictions of 5-10x venus' magnitude come true, that would be a site to behold! Post Extras:       bdawg6381 sage Reged: 12/04/08 Loc: Blacksburg, VA Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: zeldaboy101]       #4341038 - 01/26/11 09:07 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Check this out. Spaceweather is offering cash prizes for the best photo of the nano-sail!! Post Extras:       GlennLeDrew Postmaster Reged: 06/18/08 Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: bdawg6381]       #4342422 - 01/26/11 07:14 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Five to ten times the brightness of Venus is not so spectacular if we consider Iridium flares. Venus is -4.4m. A 10X brightness increase is 2.5 magnitudes. The brightness would then be -4.4 +(-2.5) = -6.9m, which is not quite as bright as the brightest Iridium events. But making up for this, the duration and amount of sky drifted across could be rather more. On the other hand, if the reflection is strongly angle-dependent, as is the case for Iridium sats, the effect could instead be Iridium-like, but with a faster angular velocity due to the lower orbit. Post Extras:       WillCarney Pooh-Bah Reged: 10/08/09 Loc: Bloomington, ILL Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: GlennLeDrew]       #4342504 - 01/26/11 07:49 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   http://www.space.com/10673-nasa-solar-sail-observing-tips.html To quote the web page: "Unfortunately, at this particular moment it appears that the angle of the sail relative to the sun and to prospective observers on the ground will be rather unfavorable, and as a result NanoSail-D has been very dim; quite likely invisible to the unaided eye. " Too bad. William Post Extras:       mikefulb sage Reged: 04/17/06 Loc: Central NC Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: bdawg6381]       #4345892 - 01/28/11 09:54 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   If I did the math right this sail will have a size of 1 arc-second: 3m ---------------- * 57 deg/rad * 3600 arc-seconds/deg ~ 1 650,000m Using 3m for the length of one side of the sail, and 650km as the orbit height. What exactly are they looking for in a photo of an unresolved object? Sounds like they need it for photometry? Post Extras:       zeldaboy101 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/13/04 Loc: Maryland Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: mikefulb]       #4346047 - 01/28/11 10:59 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Mike, They said it would be visible in telescopes if you could track it moving so quickly and that you would be able to see move across the sky and take a photo of it streaking across the sky. Maybe it'll still be possible to see it because it will become so bright? Post Extras:       mikefulb sage Reged: 04/17/06 Loc: Central NC Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: zeldaboy101]       #4346119 - 01/28/11 11:27 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I don't doubt that its visible - I just doubt it will be bigger than 1 pixel in an image! Post Extras:       zeldaboy101 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/13/04 Loc: Maryland Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: mikefulb]       #4347674 - 01/29/11 12:06 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Well it'll be a bright pixel! Only one way to find out and i'm going to try and catch it. Post Extras:       zeldaboy101 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/13/04 Loc: Maryland Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: zeldaboy101]       #4358127 - 02/02/11 01:18 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Space Weather has a few photos of the sail flaring already, some reporting it to be as bright in Vega! Post Extras:       kreegan99 member Reged: 05/20/09 Loc: Endwell, NY Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: zeldaboy101]       #4445856 - 03/13/11 12:30 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   This imager got some pretty amazing data of the sail... Absolutely love the vid. The zoom view is blurry and totally amazing! Peter Rosen's Nanosail-D2 video we have a bright one coming up here in the northeast on the 15th. May try and see what I can come up with! A very cool object to track either way! Post Extras:       Sharkman super member Reged: 08/12/06 Loc: Nelson, New Zealand Re: Nanosail-D Launched, potentially 5-10x Venus' mag [Re: kreegan99]       #4452998 - 03/16/11 04:27 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Nanosail is definitely a fast-mover. Would be challenging to capture with a long focal length scope. Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 0 registered and 0 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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