Re: ISS tonight maybe with the Shuttle following???

By the way, I just found that WolframAlpha gives the answer immediately as 53.19
miles:

   http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10+degrees+at+304+miles

Scroll down and look for "height" - there is even a diagram! Impressive!

- Alex

> Kevin wrote:
> > A back-of-the-envelope estimate gives about 700 miles for 10 degrees.
> >
> > Kevin
>
> Hmm, for me it came to about 50 miles... Here is what I did (maybe it's
> wrong):
>
> The ISS average height is around 215 miles. If the ISS is, say 45 degrees
> above horizon, the distance to the observer comes to about 304 miles. Then,
> 304*2*tan(5 degrees) = 53 miles approx.
>
> - Alex
>
> >
> > Bill Seiler wrote:
> >> So if the Shuttle was ten degrees in front of the ISS, how many miles
> >> is that?
> >> Bill Seiler

---
August 16, 2009: TAC Web Page Updated http://observers.org/TAC.cgi/Announcements/
Star Party! CalStar: Sept 17-20: http://www.observers.org/CalStar
TAC mailing list - to join, manage, or leave: http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/tac