[TNham] Space.com - ISS Spotting: Space Station Offers Brilliant Morning Views

[Greg Williams]

Now might be a good time to go out and watch a sunrise.  Those who get up
early -- or go to bed very late -- could be rewarded with an extra special
view of the International Space Station (ISS), which is visible over most of
the United States in the pre-dawn sky.

Unlike the Sun and most other celestial objects, the ISS won't appear at one
end of the horizon and travel to the other.  Instead, for about the next
week, the ISS will seem to materialize like a supernova near Saturn in the
middle of the sky and travel eastward before disappearing into the growing
sunlight.

And unlike true celestial objects, the ISS moves more quickly -- much like
any human-produced satellite.

The ISS does not emit enough light to be visible from Earth, but is visible
to the naked eye because it reflects sunlight.  The current orientation of
the spacecraft and Sun is what creates this uniquely brilliant view of the
orbiting outpost, scientists say.

To the unaided eye, the station will look like other satellites -- a bright
point of light.

With a good-sized amateur telescope, however, an observer can make out the
station's solar arrays. Each measures more than 100 feet, adding up to a
wingspan greater than that of a 747 jumbo jet.

The ISS passes over every continent except Antarctica, but people who live
at higher than 60 degrees latitude, north or south, cannot see the station
because of its orbital path.

The first two modules of the station were launched and joined in 1998.  The
first crew arrived in 2000.  Currently, American astronaut Peggy Whitson is
on board with Russian cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Sergei Treschev, circling
the Earth every 90 minutes at over 17,000 mph. When it is directly overhead,
it is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) high.



Here are the ISS's 2-line elements.  You can plug them into any satellite
tracking program.  I prefer STS Orbit Plus, available at dransom.com

ISS
1 25544U 98067A   02243.15001157  .00033894  00000-0  43124-3 0   996
2 25544  51.6389  36.7649 0015914 202.9586 139.4623 15.58887642215719