Here is a recent example computed for Cardiff: For the given Date in year/month/day format, Local Time is the instant the ISS first becomes visible and Duration indicates the length of the sighting in minutes. The table underneath the month’s Moon phase data then shows current nighttime passes of the International Space Station over your chosen location during the next five days, if any.

In the Almanac, select the closest city to your location from the Country and City pull-down menus before ensuring that the box beside Add ISS passes? has a tick in it and - just as importantly - the Daylight Savings Time? box, if applicable to your time and location. Many of you may have used our online Almanac to obtain information about lunar phases, or the rising and setting of the Sun, Moon and planets for wherever you may live, but the Almanac can also tell you when and where to see the International Space Station. Using Astronomy Now’s Almanac to make ISS viewing predictions As far as the UK is concerned, the ISS can be seen as high as the zenith at all locations south of a line drawn between Swansea and London, appearing lower in the sky for all places north of this line. The ISS orbits our planet with an inclination to the equator of 51.6 degrees, meaning that it can appear overhead at all latitudes between 51.6° N and 51.6° S. Image credit: NASA/Crew of STS-132/Wikimedia Commons.The International Space Station orbits the Earth every 92 minutes at an altitude between 205 and 255 miles, travelling at an average speed in excess of 17,000 miles per hour (7.5 kilometres per second). The International Space Station on as seen from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-132. The orbital outpost has completed more than 117,000 orbits since its launch and has been continuously occupied since November 2000. Since then, more than 115 constructional space flights using five different types of launch vehicles have led to the 73 x 109 x 20 metre, 400-tonne structure that we see today. The ISS will be well seen from the British Isles over the next week, appearing like a slowly moving bright star crossing the sky in an arc from west to east, a few times each night from the UK.Ĭonstruction of the ISS began with the launch of the first module, Zarya, in November 1998. While most celestial objects require a telescope or binocular to see clearly, the bright and unmistakable International Space Station makes regular visits to the night sky and may be enjoyed with nothing more than the naked eye, whether you live in the country or the heart of a light-polluted city. If you wish to indulge in a some lunar gazing to commemorate this momentous anniversary, clear UK skies around civil dusk permit you to see not only a partially eclipsed Moon low in the southeast with Saturn nearby, but brighter planetary sibling Jupiter in the south and, if you’re particularly fortunate, the International Space Station gliding by from 10:06–10:09pm BST! On this day fifty years ago, Apollo 11 blasted off from Kennedy Space Centre at 13:32 UTC on its historic eight-day journey to put men on the Moon and safely return them to Earth.

Note that the Moon’s apparent size is enlarged for clarity. The ISS makes its next pass, somewhat higher in the sky, at 11:44pm (all times BST). Not only will you see the rising partially eclipsed Moon (maximum eclipse is shortly before 10:31pm), planets Saturn and Jupiter, but the International Space Station (ISS) gliding by from 10:06–10:09pm, as depicted in this looping animation. Observers in the British Isles with a clear sky around civil dusk tonight should find a location offering an unobstructed view of the horizon from southeast through south.

Space station viewing 2021