Four evenings beneath the Int'l Space Station
There is always a chance that clouds and storms will interfere. But if we get lucky, there should be plenty of opportunity to spot the International Space Station this week as it passes over the mid-Atlantic states.
The long hours of northern daylight at this time of year are keeping the station in direct sunlight later into the evening, and earlier in the morning, so there are actually more than 20 flybys that observers in the Baltimore area could catch in the next nine days if they were so inclined. But many are in the wee hours of the morning, and other passes are low to the horizon and harder to see.
In this post I'll highlight just four passes, all of them very bright, evening opportunities at least halfway up the sky from the horizon. Here goes:
Tuesday evening, July 7: Look for the ISS as it rises above the southwestern horizon at 9:32 p.m. EDT. It will pass through the Summer Triangle, climbing to 43 degrees above the southeastern horizon by 9:35 p.m. From there it will cruise off toward the northeast, disappearing at about 9:38 p.m. UPDATE: Good pass, very bright, no clouds. The unmanned Russian Progress supply ship trailed the ISS by about 15 seconds.
Wednesday evening, July 8: On this pass, too, the ISS will rise from the southwest at 9:57 p.m., passing just above Saturn. Then it will travel through the stars of the Big Dipper, about 48 degrees above the northwestern horizon at 9:59 p.m. From there it will head off toward the northeast as it flies over New England and the Canadian Maritime Provinces and disappears at about 10:02 p.m.
Thursday evening, July 9: This pass will begin in the southwest at 8:46 p.m. EDT. The ISS will appear like a bright, moving star, rising 46 degrees above the southeast horizon at 8:49 p.m. From there it will fly off toward the northeast and vanish at 8:52 p.m.
Friday evening, July 10: Watch for the space station to rise out of the western sky at 9:10 p.m. EDT, passing just below Saturn this time, then climbing to 46 degrees (halfway up) from the northwestern horizon. It will pass along the bottom edge of the Dipper stars at 9:13 p.m. before moving off toward the mortheast, where it will fade away at 9:16 p.m.
As always, come back here and let us know how you did. Take the kids out to watch. One of them might decide to become an astronaut. Or a science writer.
The image above, by the way, is the expected view through the ISS Cupola that astronauts will carry to the station and install sometime next year.
Comments
Thanks for the heads-up..
ISS is *very* bright these days - like Venus. It was very easy to see over the lights of Washington at 9:35 pm tonight, looking brighter than the planes approaching National airport. (ISS looks like a high altitude aircraft, since it is 30 times higher and moving 30 times faster..)
Last time I worked on the design it was just a collection of presentation charts - so it is nice to see it flying. Too bad it has been such a struggle to apply 1% of the operating cost to develop a true commercial space industry.. that fight goes on.
Posted by: Eric Dahlstrom | July 7, 2009 9:48 PM
Frank, perfect timing. Iss out of the southwest as predicted.No clouds a perfect view. Was extremely bright from my vanatage point in Wesminster.Duration right around 5 to 6 minutes also passed over the head of a commercial airliner, bet they had a great view if the pilots were on their game. I`ll be watching the next few nights cloud cover permitting.
Posted by: bryan bonner | July 7, 2009 9:51 PM
ISS was very easy to spot tonight from a rooftop pool in downtown Ballston, Arlington.
Times / directions were spot on, hoping for clear skies tomorrow night!
Posted by: jared | July 7, 2009 10:49 PM
I have watched the ISS fly over twice here in Tn.. What I would like to know is what the other object is on the same line as the ISS. It is much dimmer and about one min. behind. Have seen it both times.
Posted by: Joe Townsend | July 7, 2009 11:23 PM
As we watched ISS tonight, we saw somthing following the same path, it was about 15 seconds behind it and was smaller and not as bright. But it seemed to be following the same path. Any ideas what it was/is?
FR: That's an unmanned Russian Progress supply ship. It will dock with the station July 12, testing a new automated docking system.
Posted by: S. Williams | July 8, 2009 12:56 AM
I had skipped reading your blog for a few days (I know, my bad!) so I was surprised and delighted that I recognized the space station last night, as it passed over Cockeysville, without actually looking for it.
I went out onto my deck at about 9:15 last night and was just sitting there enjoying the evening when I saw it! It was so bright it was unmistakable.
Of course, first stop at the computer this morning was your blog to verify that I saw the space station and not a UFO!
Posted by: Kittysmom | July 8, 2009 7:27 AM
We saw the 9:57 Wednesday flyover easily from a field off Lake Ave., thanks to the heads up from this blog. Very enjoyable!
The NASA site doesn't list the 8:46PM Thursday flyover. Is there another source you have for that event?
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_States®ion=Maryland&city=Baltimore
FR: Heavens_ Above.com
Posted by: TiggerFan | July 9, 2009 1:37 PM
We saw it, sat out in the yard like we were waiting for a movie to start, and it was quite spectactular. Thanks for the accurate timing. We had cloud cover for awhile but it cleared shortly before it went over. We waved--do you think they saw us?
Posted by: Vickie and Pete | July 9, 2009 8:56 PM
Saw it in Anne Arundel County. Thanks for the accuracy of location. We're hoping Friday's passover will be as good.
And, we waved, too!
Posted by: patriciamilitia | July 9, 2009 10:24 PM
My wife and I saw it Wednesday & Thursday nites here in Oklahoma City! It was an awesome sight to see!!!
Posted by: Rusty Hensley | July 9, 2009 10:34 PM
Last night we read, that the space station was passing trough the central coast of California. my wife set the alarm at 4;15 am and ten minutes latter we saw the station approach from the south it was my wife,the ISS and myself at 4:30 this morning what a wonderful event.
Posted by: Benjamin Arteaga | July 9, 2009 11:12 PM
My husband and I saw the International Space Station last night. I even got a few pictures. It was awesome...about 9:18, Thursday, July 9th, in Wichita, Kansas.
Posted by: Rhonda Murphy | July 10, 2009 9:55 AM
We saw the space station pass over Arizona from Phoenix last night! It was truly awesome to see. My husband worked at Motorola and on buildingsome of the space station equipment.
Posted by: Beverly | July 10, 2009 2:01 PM
spectacular sight,lt appeared very bright and somewhat triangular.It was directly overhead campbellton nb canada.well done NASA.
Posted by: FG Shalala | July 10, 2009 9:39 PM
Hi saw the space station on thurs nite at 8:50 in Las vegas nv what a sight...
Posted by: John Hinckley | July 10, 2009 10:38 PM