Tag Archives: ISS

Watch the Space Station Go Over Tonight!

The ISS over the Pacific Ocean

The ISS over the Pacific Ocean

The International Space Station (ISS) will travel over Central Texas tonight and you can see it if the clouds cooperate. It will be visible for 6 minutes (it moves pretty fast). Look to the southwest at 9:16 PM. It will travel from southwest to northeast, reaching a maximum elevation of 79 degrees. Just FYI, 90 degrees would be straight overhead.

The ISS is the third brightest object in the sky, after the sun and the moon . . . even brighter than Venus, which you can see low in the west at dusk.

You can sign up for a free text alert from NASA to let you know when the ISS will be visible in your area. It is always either in the early evening or the pre-dawn hours. The sun is below the horizon for you and me but the ISS is not yet in the shadow of the earth. In other words, the sun has not set or risen for the crew of the ISS.

Here is the link: Spot the Station

Here is what the text messages look like: (SpotTheStation) Time: Wed Jun 05 9:16 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 79 degrees, Appears: SW, Disappears: NE

As you can see, I translated it for you at the beginning of this article but it’s pretty simple once you know the code. By the way, you can tell it’s not an airplane because there are no flashing lights and it is completely silent. If you have never seen it, you’ll be amazed!

Stewart Dale Spencer