(Click photo to enlarge.)
OVER THE MOON: No, it's not a cow. The solar arrays rule that out: (HA! - Cathy)
"It's the International Space Station (ISS)," says Leonardo Julio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. "We photographed it last night, July 13th, gliding past lunar crater Tycho. Julio's team, which included friends Enzo De Bernardini and Adriana Fernández, used an 8-inch Meade LX90 equipped with a Canon 20D digital camera to capture the flyby.
The ISS has grown so large in recent years that a backyard telescope is all you need to see its details. The solar arrays span 80 meters, about the same as 30 cows lined up single file. The station's habitable volume, 425 m3, equals the combined volume of about 100 dairy cows, while the mass of the station, 280,000 kg, equals 400 cows.
So, no it's not a cow. It's more like a whole herd.
STAMPEDE! This week the space station begins a series of bright evening flybys over North America. If you live in that part of the world, check the Simple Satellite Tracker to find out when to look.
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