Credit: NASA
Six astronauts — a mix of Russians, Americans and Japanese — are currently orbiting the Earth 15-16 times a day at an altitude around 250 miles in the International Space Station (ISS). Every time I see its bright light travel complete its west to east arc across the sky I think of all the people populating that tiny, moving dot.
This month, the ISS will make favorable evening passes across much of the U.S. and other parts of the world. You can catch during twilight for the next 2+ weeks as it speeds at 17,100 mph across the darkening sky. The station is the largest, most reflective satellite by far and easily outshines Jupiter on its best passes. While other satellites might outdo the ISS, they flare only briefly while the station maintains its brightness.
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All passes begin in the western sky with the space station moving east; a typical pass lasts about 5 minutes. Occasionally, midway through its travels, the station will suddenly fade and disappear. This happens when it encounters Earth’s shadow, which blocks sunlight from reaching the craft. From the astronauts’ perspective, they witness a sunset. For us on the ground, binoculars will show the ISS fading to yellow then orange and finally red as it catches the last rays of the Sun. To see another sunset or sunrise, the astronauts only have to wait about 45 minutes.
You can get alerts from NASA whenever a good pass will happen over your city by signing up at Spot the Station. Or you can go to Heavens Above, select your city and get a list of passes for the next 10 days. Clicking on a date will call up a map with times showing the station’s path across the sky. This is especially helpful if you’re planning on taking a photo or if you’d like to know when and where the ISS will smack into Earth’s shadow.
Maps also demonstrate that the brightest passes are typically those that are as close to overhead (path crosses the center of the star map) as possible. When overhead, only 250 miles separates you from the ISS; if it makes a low pass across the northern or southern sky, you have to add in your line of sight or horizontal distance to that 250. More miles means a fainter satellite.
Take the kids out and show the neighbors, too. August evenings couldn’t be more pleasant.