- SEE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FULL
- SEE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION PLUS
- SEE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WINDOWS
The smartphone app SkySafari Plus also provides satellite observing information along with simulated sky views but it doesn’t easily show future fly-overs like Heavens-Above does.Īnd that’s it! After 4 sightings you’ll catch the drift of how this works and you can begin to dig for more information about Space Station operations and the crews onboard. It’s a bit challenging to use the first time but it gives more complete information that any other site. I’ve listed resources below but my favorite is. What happens when it disappears as you’re viewing? It crosses into earth’s shadow! No sunlight shining on it, so we can’t see it. Of course not, it’s 250 miles up! Even though it’s the size of a football field, don’t expect to see any details, it’s too far away. It’s odd to say this, but it doesn’t make a sound. It has no flashing lights like an airplane. It moves steadily across the sky getting brighter as it comes closer to your position. Space Station appears as a bright dot about the brightness of the planet Venus.
SEE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FULL
The passes, called fly-overs, can last from under two minute for a short pass to just under 8 minutes for a full flight from horizon to horizon. ISS orbits at an altitude of about 250 miles and flies along at 17,500 miles an hour. This when the background sky is dark enough but ISS is still catching enough light from the sun for us to see it.
SEE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WINDOWS
There are two daily time windows when the station is visible: morning and evening twilight – the period just before sunrise and the period just after sunset. During the day, the sky is too bright to see it and as we look up late at night, ISS flies through Earth’s shadow so there’s no sunlight falling on the station for us to see it. Space Station is only visible when it’s illuminated by sunlight. Sometimes if conditions are right you can see two passes in one evening or morning. The orbital period – the time it takes to complete one orbit – is about 92 minutes. The orbit is a circular path around the Earth, as the earth turns under the station, ISS orbits Earth seeing different portions of Earth on each orbit. ISS flies over Philadelphia at least 4 times a day and as many as 7 times a day, all because of how the station orbits and how the Earth turns underneath the orbit.
Timing is specific to the Philadelphia region.
Share this information with your family across the region, then do it together as a group! This is almost exclusively a ‘naked eye’ experience to be done only when the sky is clear. Looking for something unique to do with your spare time? Become an ISS spotting expert! All you need is your phone and a place to view from – your backyard, your front step, a nearby intersection – but no telescope.
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