ISS Watching

If you are up for sky watching this coming Sunday (or maybe Monday) you may want to catch a view of the International Space Station (ISS) with unaided eye as it will pass visible to Manila skies about around 6:42PM from the north direction.

The International Space Station is occasionally bright enough in the night sky to be seen by the naked eye. It looks like a moving star to the unaided eye or sometimes a passing plane(not blinking). It is in one of the lowest orbits possible, about 242 miles overhead. The ideal viewing time is immediately before dawn or after sunset, when the observer is in the dark and the ISS is in sunlight. Circling the globe in slightly different orbits 15 times a day, the ISS passes over most of the Earth in a 24-hour period.

So how can you see it when it flies over your head? First, you need to know where the ISS is and when you can expect it. If you use Google, a number of Web sites will tell you when the ISS will pass over a certain location - www.heavens-above.com is one and is very easy to use.

Here are details I have for this Saturday up to Monday.

Here is a video of ISS passing by:




Aside from the ISS you may possibly see a dozen more artifial satelites orbiting us during the dark hour’s right after sunset or before sunrise. Hubble Space telescope(HST) is one and thousands of other space junks floating around.