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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Who the heck is that, you ask???
Her name might as well be MUD, because she is the one who dropped the
toolbag on her spacewalk.
So, if you are bored, I mean, really bored, and are looking for
something cool to do, keep reading, because you don't want to miss this
possible once in a lifetime opportunity.  You, too, can see Heidemarie
Stefanyshyn-Piper's tool bag as it circles the Earth.  I kid you not.
All it takes is a bit of time and possibly a pair of binoculars.

First, some background..
In astronomy brightness of an object is magnitude. There are different
types of magnitude, but you just need to know that negative numbers are
bright objects and positive numbers are dim objects.    The human eye,
unaided, can see down to approximately a magnitude 6 on a reasonably
clear night.  Some people can see magnitude 7 stars, but it is rare.
Usually, the faintest star you can see would be a 6.  Most people can
find Orion, so using that as a basis, Rigel, the southernmost bright
star is mag 0.1(0), Betelgeuese, the northernmost reddish star, is
0.8(1) and the belt stars are between mag 1.5 and mag 2.  Near Orion,
you can probably find Sirius, the brightest star in the sky(follow the
belt stars down) and Sirius is a mag -1.5.  The full Moon is -12 and the
sun is -27.  Pluto the furthest dwarf planet that used to be a planet is
13-17, say 15.
With all of that in mind, the toolbag is currently running between
magnitude 6 and 8, depending on your location, (how the sun is shining
on it).  Since it is a tumbling object, you might be able to see it
easier as it's brightness will vary a little.  It could even flare and
get super bright for a second or two and then fade out.

The second thing you need to know is how to approximate altitude.
Obviously, 90 degrees is straight up and 0 is the horizon.  As it turns
out, your hand is a pretty good estimator.  Hold your arm straight out,
fingers relaxed and together, and align your thumb even with the
horizon.  The width of your hand is about 10 degrees, so you can 'walk
up' using your hands to an approximate altitude.  So, if you are looking
for something 25 degrees off the horizon, first hand is ten, second hand
is 20 and mid way on the third hand is 25.  At my house unless I am way
out in the pasture, I am looking at trees at 25 degrees, so be sure you
measure from the horizon even if you can't actually see it, estimate
where it would be.  Some people use this technique with their fingers
spread out a little and call a hand 15 degrees, or they use their
fist-there are variations. You can measure your hand to know exactly if
you want.

The only other thing you need to know are cardinal directions from your
location. (where north is, etc.)

The following website is my favorite site for such things as you can
look for ISS or Hubble passes, satellites, comets-ANYTHING.  Setup a
login and password(it's free and in 10+ years I've never been spammed)
and put in your location.  It can be as general as a city or as specific
as a latitude and longitude.  The more specific you can be, the more
specific they can be in giving you times and directions for passes.

http://www.heavens-above.com/

Once you get a login and get set up, you just click on the toolbag
link(or the ISS link or whatever you want to see) and it will give you
times and dates and directions and brightnesses for upcoming passes.

Reading the information left to right it will give you the date of the
pass, the magnitude(brightness), the start time and location(like it
will start at 19:10 hours at 10 degrees off the Northern horizon) the
maximum height column(tells you when it reaches it's highest point in
the sky like 19:13 at 64 degrees to the NW) and when it ends (like at
19:17 at 10 degrees off the western horizon)  Be sure and click on blue
texted stuff to see more, like ground tracks and sky charts.

Have fun people, and let me know if you see it...

--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda
http://www.myspace.com/tervetuloa13