Image of ISS pass by File this under Look Up: the International Space Station is going to make some incredibly bright passes overhead the next few days. SpaceWeather.com explains, “the behemoth spacecraft will be in constant sunlight as its orbit lines up with Earth’s day-night terminator,” which also means that most locations will see it pass overhead multiple times a night. Here in D.C. we’ll see it first tonight at 10:04 p.m. followed by a second pass for the night-owls at 4:02 a.m. Saturday night, catch it at 8:56 p.m. and 4:29 a.m. Click over to the satellite tracker for where to look in the sky – for tonight’s first pass, look towards the the West-Southwest and stack your outstretched fist about five times high from the horizon, which is about 50 degrees. If we have clear skies, the ISS will be brighter than Mars and Saturn, and nearly as bright as Venus – all three planets will be also be in the Western sky tonight.
Of course, the astronauts on the ISS get some pretty spectacular views themselves – check out this unbelievable aurora from space. If you manage to stay up late for that second pass tonight, you’ll also see just a smidgen of a lunar eclipse. We don’t get a grand view in D.C., as the eclipse begins just as the Moon is setting at around 3:30 a.m. (which means you’ll also need a good view of the horizon). Tell your friends in California, who’ll have a little more time to get a view.
