Really cool birthday present!

[arose62]

My daughter Melanie turned 5 yesterday, and because she is such a wonderful little girl, I asked the fairies if we could have a birthday star, just for her.

So, last night, after Hungry Jacks, I took her out to the carpark, and we looked up at 45 degrees, facing south-east, at 18:47:53, and we saw a faint star appear, and over a few seconds grow in brightness until it was the brightest object in the sky, then fade away again.

Melanie was absolutely delighted!!

The secret?
www.heavens-above.com
and find the timing for an Iridium flash which is visible from where you are.
The "Iridium" satellites have large panels which reflect sunlight back to Earth, and this website tracks these events, and other visible satellites.

Hope someone else can use this to make a kid (or even a grownup) feel special.

Cheers,
Andrew

[RufflyRustic]

What a brilliant site!!!

Thanks!

cheers
Wendy

[Carry Pine]

Thanks Arose, I've always been interested in astronomy and some of the kids i know will love this.

CP

[echnidna]

Cool Dad

[pawnhead]

Awesome! Bookmarked.
Big one coming next Monday.

That must have put a smile on your daughters face.

Thanks for that arose.