• Question: How can you predict when the international space station is over your town?

    Asked by 324radg49 to Pip on 17 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Pip Millington

      Pip Millington answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      The ISS is pretty fun to watch. When it passes overhead it takes about 5 to 8 minutes to go from one horizon to the other. It’s a bit brighter than most of the stars, comparable to looking at Venus or Jupiter, and you don’t even have to us ea elescope

      In theory, it would be possible to work it out just using maths and physics.

      The good news is someone made an app which does all of the hard work for us! I have an app on iPhone called ISS Spotter which tells you when the ISS will next appear over your current area but I think there are similar apps for Android phones too!

Comments