The Spot the Station program lets you sign up to receive alerts that let you know when ISS will be visible from your location anywhere in the world, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. As suddenly as it appears, it disappears.īut how do you know when to see ISS pass overhead from your location? It looks like a bright star moving quickly from horizon to horizon to us on Earth. From most locations on Earth, assuming you have clear night skies, you can see ISS for yourself. The International Space Station ( ISS) has been orbiting our planet since 1998. Thank you, Robert! A bird? A plane? The International Space Station! The circular streaks are stars circling around the North Star ( Polaris) during the exposure. The long streak is a 6-minute exposure of the International Space Station crossing the sky as seen from Seaforth, Ontario, Canada. | Robert Watcher captured this cool image on May 17, 2021. The camera was on long exposure, the Station leaves a bright line (image credit: Olivier Sanguy).View at EarthSky Community Photos. Then enjoy the show, an artificial “star” home to 6 astronauts and built through the combined effort of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. Use Heavens Above the day before or the day of a pass in order to get the latest data. This is why calculations of passes after more than 10 days become inaccurate. The ISS is subject to adjustments in orbit now and then. Finally, “Ends” repeats the previous information for the end of the pass.īy clicking the date, you can even obtain a sky chart showing the Station’s path among the constellations. The higher “Alt.” is in this column, the easier it will be to see the ISS (90° being the zenith). the time the Station will be highest in the sky. The same information is then repeated for “Max. In the example of the 21 April, SW = South-West. Next, “Alt.” is the altitude in degrees above the horizon and “Az.” the direction in which to look. Warning, you may need to wait up to 1 minute until the Station gradually comes out of the Earth’s shadow to be visible. The next column (“Time” in “Starts”) indicates the time that you will begin to see the Station depending on your time zone (put more simply the time on your watch). With -2 or -3, you can expect to see a very beautiful sight the ISS will then be the brightest star in the sky (apart from Venus or the Moon). But you will note that the figure is often negative, so the larger the figure after the – sign, the brighter the Station. The smaller this figure, the brighter the ISS. 6 is the limit of visibility by the naked eye in ideal conditions. The magnitude quantifies the brightness of a star in the sky. Opposite the date, you will firstly see the magnitude in the “Mag.” column. You will then see a table which tells you the visible passes of the ISS at night over 10 days. Under the “Satellites” heading, click “ISS”. You are returned to the home page, but this time your location is identified. If there are several locations with a similar name, Heavens Above generates a list from which you can select the location that correctly corresponds to the region you are in (Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, in our example, where the Cité de l’espace is based). Then, in the “Select Town(s)” window, enter the name of your town or the closest town to you and click “Submit”. On the Internet, go to On the home page, click “from database”. The site is in English, but even if you do not speak the language of the bard, by following the instructions below, you’ll have no trouble obtaining all the information you need. The question is when and where to look? The solution can be found on the internet with the Heavens Above website which you can use to calculate the Space Station’s forthcoming passes (because there are times when it is not visible). An unforgettable spectacle, think of the astronauts on board who travel around our planet at 28,000 km/h! The video below shows the ISS moving across the sky. The result? Depending on the period, the Station is sometimes the brightest star in the night sky that it majestically crosses in minutes. Covered with a “metal skin”, the modules reflect the Sun’s light towards the Earth, not forgetting the solar panels. This impressive jigsaw of modules stuck at an altitude of 350 km represents 400 tonnes in orbit, the largest object ever assembled up there. It’s nothing like that with the International Space Station. However, these satellites like others give off a weak light, sometimes too weak for our eyes to see them. The International Space Station does not have navigation lights like airplanes! If we see it, it is because these modules and imposing solar panels reflect the Sun’s light.
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