Shuttle, Mir may be seen over Las Vegas

Monday, June 8, 1998 | 10:24 a.m.

The northeastern sky over Southern Nevada is the best place to see the space shuttle Discovery and the Russian space station Mir Wednesday through Friday as long as the weather cooperates.

The shuttle and the Mir will appear as two bright dots chasing each other across the sky for only moments at a time, said Robert Pippin, planetarium manager of the Community College of Southern Nevada's Cheyenne Campus facility.

The first time Southern Nevadans can catch a glimpse of the sky wanderers will be from 8:57 p.m. to 8:59 p.m. Wednesday. The pair will disappear between the northeastern and eastern horizon.

Pippin advised skywatchers to begin scanning the heavens about two minutes ahead of the scheduled times. The orbiting light show will be visible from the valley, except on brightly lit Fremont Street or the Las Vegas Strip, he said.

There's no need for a telescope or binoculars, since the lights come and go so quickly.

Thursday the space craft will appear for about a minute beginning at 9:30 p.m. in the direction of north-northeast and again for two minutes on Friday starting at 8:29 p.m.

The shuttle and the Mir appeared as one bright dot this weekend for viewers in Northern Nevada. They are scheduled to undock tonight and present two bright lights in the night sky later this week.

If anyone misses this show, there will be more chances to track space travelers in September. That's when 66 communication satellites are scheduled to go into operation. The sun will reflect off their polished antennae, flash to earth for a few seconds and then disappear. These flares are sometimes reported as UFOs.