An astronomer at the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco said the International Space Station put on quite a display over the Bay Area tonight as it cut a ``very, very unusual'' path among celestial bodies.
Dave Rodrigues said today's rainy weather lifted enough around 6:30 p.m. to give the curious a beautiful view of the brightly lit space station, which aligned itself between Jupiter and Saturn, then passed alongside the belt of Orion as well as Sirius, the brightest star.
``It's like a six-minute astronomy lesson for people,'' explained Rodrigues. He said about 20 people gathered outside the planetarium to take in the celestial sights, which included a crescent moon.
The sky show started in the northwest at 6:39 p.m with the space station arriving overhead at 6:42 p.m. and then disappearing in the southeast at 6:45 p.m., according to Rodrigues. The station has three aboard, two Russians and an American who are conducting scientific research. Presently about as large as a 747 jet, it is still under construction and will eventually grow to the size of a city block.
The station is traveling at 16,000 mph about 230 miles above earth.<
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Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
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