Lexicon7 wrote:
This was with a bit of "light pollution" from the San Diego skyline so I am anxious to stay in the Colorado River desert areas and see if I can find the ISS as you have described it.
When visible, my wife and I often saw the ISS from our hot tub in L.A. It's very bright and can be confused with an aircraft with it's landing light on. One night we even saw the Shuttle leaving the ISS and Soyuz arriving.
I have found, having lived in L.A. for 35 years that light pollution is overstated and overrated. When I bought my 8" SC scope, I was living in an apartment in Beachwood Canyon below the Hollywood sign. I had no problem seeing most of the objects that I could see from the LAAS site in Lockwood Valley, near Mt. Pinos.
The real problem was finding the object or it's guide stars with the naked eye. It could even be a problem with the binos. Plus, it is also almost impossible to become fully night-adapted.
I always found that the heat rising off the streets and nearby houses was the biggest hindrance to urban astronomy.
LS
