Watch HTV-5 Chase the International Space Station From Your Backyard

universetoday.com ^ | August 19, 2015 | David Dickinson

[BenLurkin]

HTV does not incorporate deployable solar panels, but instead, has panels wrapped around its body. This can also lend itself to some pretty bright flares as it passes overhead.

The H-IIB is a two stage rocket, and ground observers should keep an eye out for the second stage booster during ISS passes as well...

Grapple of the HTV-5 will occur Monday over central Asia. Keep in mind, the HTV-5 will have to perform several burns to reach the elevation of the ISS: this means its orbit will evolve daily. Heavens-Above and NASA’s Spot the Station tracker typically publish sighting predictions for cargo vehicles such as the HTV-5 along with ISS sighting opportunities online.

And we’ll be posting daily updates and maps as @Astroguyz on Twitter. We see the best prospects for spotting the ISS and HTV5 over the next few days leading up to Monday’s berthing are for latitudes 25-45 north (dusk) and latitudes 30-50 south (dawn). That covers a wide range of observers in Europe, North America, South Africa and Australia/New Zealand.

Pro-tip: the trick to a successful sighting is to start watching early. The HTV-5 will be fainter than the brilliant ISS, but still visible to the naked eye at about magnitude +1 to +2 or so when directly overhead. The HTV-5 will follow the same orbital trace as the station. Spot the ISS and still don’t see HTV-5? Linger for a bit and keep watching after the ISS has passed, as the HTV might follow shortly. And the darker the skies you can find to carry out your HTV-5 vigil under, the better!

[BenLurkin]

A capture of the passage of HTV-4. Image credit and copyright: Fred Locklear

[Hatteras]

I saw the ISS and the shuttle about two “fingers’ width” apart passing almost directly overhead on the very last shuttle mission to the ISS. Very cool. Thanks for posting!