ISS viewing times

The International Space Station is again passing over the region and you can see it with the naked eye. Most of the passes are around the 9PM mark, so are more convinient than last time.

Timings for each pass in the next ten days are here.

March Public Meeting

“The Moon – Will We Return?” by Gary Auker

Cassini flyby animations

On the 12th March 2008 the spacecraft Cassini made a close flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The manoeuvre was relatively risky with the probe getting as close as 50 km from the moon’s surface. It was expected to possibly pass through the plumes of material extending from its southern geysers. Below is a video compilation of raw images that Cassini took during the flyby:

Cassini performed a similar flyby of Iapetus in September of last year, in order to better view and gain understanding of it’s varied geological features:

You can view more images from the Cassini mission here.

New member image

Great image of Saturn, taken by Adam Hobden, is now in the gallery:

Next Shuttle launch: 11th March

The next Space Shuttle launch, this time for Endeavour, is scheduled for the morning of Tuesday 11th March (at approx 06:28 GMT).

It will be the twenty-fifth shuttle mission to visit the ISS, and will deliver the first module of the Japanese laboratory, Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō), and the Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator robotics system to the station.

The completion of the mission will leave nine flights remaining in the Space Shuttle program until its end in 2010

Early Morning Space Station

The International Space Station is again passing over the region and you can see it with the naked eye. However, this time around you’ll need to be getting up in the early hours of the morning to see it.

Timings for each pass in the next ten days are here.