La Société Guernesiaise Astronomy Section

Visible passes of the

International Space Station

and other satellites

International Space Station on 21 August 2006, by David Le Conte.     International Space Station on 21 August 2006, by David Le Conte.

The International Space Station rising over Guernsey on 21 August 2006.

Many people have expressed interest in seeing the International Space Station (ISS), which regularly passes through our skies.

The ISS appears like a very bright star moving from west to east, at an angular velocity similar to a plane, and taking a few minutes to cross the sky.  During morning passes, especially the very early morning ones, the satellite may be in the Earth’s shadow, and therefore invisible, for the first part of a pass.  Similarly, the satellite may enter the Earth’s shadow during the late evening passes.  Note that many other, fainter, satellites are also visible.  The ISS is the brightest.  The Space Shuttle is also bright, and can be seen when it is in orbit, sometimes close to the ISS.  Many other, fainter, satellites are also visible.

International Space Station on 09 August 2007, by David Le Conte.            Space Shuttle on 09 August 2007, by David Le Conte.

The International Space Station (left) preceded the Space Shuttle Endeavour, flight STS-118 (right) by 3 minutes in this sequence taken on 09 August 2007.

Click on the images for full-resolution version (2.4 MB)

ISS and ATV on 31 March 2008 by David Le Conte.

The International Space Station (left) preceded (by about 20 seconds and 150 km) by the fainter Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) on 31 March 2008.

They were passing above Polaris, and through Ursa Major.

The link below will take you direct to a page, configured for the latitude and longitude of St Peter Port, Guernsey, on the excellent "Heavens Above" web site which provides up-to-date predictions of the ISS and many other satellites.  Of special interest are flares from the Iridium satellites.  You can get more accurate predictions for these flares by changing the location on the Heavens Above web site to your Guernsey parish, or Alderney, Sark or Herm.

Iridium flare on 26 September 2006, by David Le Conte.

A flare from the Iridium 95 satellite on 26 September 2006

Click here for the Heavens Above web site.

Also see: NASA ISS sighting information for Guernsey.

Satellite visibility predictions and topical astronomical information can also obtained by calling the astronomy newsline run by Astronomy and Space Magazine: tel 09001 881950.  There is a charge for this service.

This page was last updated on 24 April 2008.

Text and pictures © David Le Conte

Heavens above  On-line satellite prediction

 

Where is the International Space Station?

 

Where is the Space Shuttle?

 

Astronomy Section Home Page

About the Astronomy Section

About the Observatory

Events diary

Image gallery

Links

Astronomical events this year

La Société Guernesiaise