A farewell view of Space Shuttle Discovery

This evening in twilight (sun at -8 degrees altitude) we had a last pass of the "dynamic duo" Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133 and the International Space Station (ISS).

After it's landing tomorrow late afternoon, Discovery will be retired.

The two were well visible in a still bright blue sky, with Orion just visible. They sailed under Orion through Lepus, the Shuttle leading 37.4 seconds (about 19 degrees at culmination) in front of the ISS.

Below is one of the images I shot, using the EF 2.8/24mm lens at 4 second exposure, 200 ISO. The Shuttle is the trail on the left, ISS on the right:

click image to enlarge

Several other European observers reported a water-dump, visible as a "comet tail" behind the Shuttle. I didn't see it from Leiden though, likely because the sky was still too bright.