When it passes directly overhead, the ISS is at its closest to us and therefore appears larger and brighter. The sun must still be shining on it for it to be easily visible, while our sky is generally dark right after sunset or around dawn. That’s the key to seeing the ISS when it passes over. It’s easy to see, too, since such a large object reflects lots of sunlight. TV meteorologists regularly tell when the ISS will make a favorable evening sky pass across North Carolina skies and popular phone apps can nail the next appearance of the ISS over any location.
You will not be able to see those moving across the sky.The ISS is also the most popular artificial satellite with the public. Weather satellites that track clouds and whose images are shown in animations on many websites are orbiting 22,000 miles above us and appear fixed over the equator. You can find out when the ISS is flying over you by visiting the website go./space-station and entering your state and city, or selecting one of the nearby cities from a list. It is a large object with large, highly reflective solar panels making it the brightest of human objects orbiting Earth. It orbits Earth at an altitude of about 215 miles traveling at a speed of 17,200 mph. The International Space Station (ISS) can be very bright. These satellites are very high above Earth, about 200 to 300 miles so, while you are in the night darkness, the satellite can still be illuminated by the sun.Įventually the satellite will fly into the Earth’s shadow and then suddenly disappear from view. What you will see is sunlight being reflected off the satellite, often off the large solar arrays that provide power to the satellites. Satellites do not have their own lights that make them visible.
If the lights are blinking, you probably are seeing a plane, not a satellite. The satellite will look like a star steadily moving across the sky for a few minutes. Viewing is best away from city lights and in cloud-free skies. Yes, we can see satellites in particular orbits as they pass overhead at night.
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