Astro Bob

The Inspiration4 ship and crew pass beneath the bright star Altair around 8:42 p.m. Friday night, September 17. At the same time, Object-B, a rocket stage from an earlier Japanese satellite launch, crosses the same part of the sky.  Bob King Sometimes satellites and spacecraft don't show up at their predicted times. One of the main reasons this happens is when mission control decides to raise or lower the object's orbit by firing the ship's thrusters.  Last night, unbeknownst to most, SpaceX lowered the orbit of historic Inspiration4 space capsule sometime before or during its pass over the U.S. When a spacecraft's altitude is lowered, it appears lower in the sky and moves more quickly. A faster speed also means it will arrive in view earlier than the original time. The higher the orbit the more slowly the satellite travels, the same way Earth takes more time to circle the sun compared to Mercury.  I set up the camera a little more than 10 minutes in advance just to tes...