After gracing the pre-dawn skies last month, the International Space Station (ISS) is crossing our evening sky again. To see the ISS just start looking to the west on the following dates, at the times given (see how on some nights it's visible twice, 90 minutes apart?) and look for a 'star' rising up from the horizon. This will be the ISS. If the 'star' is blinking, it's a distant plane.
February 4: 19.30; 5th: 18.38 and 20.13; 6th: 17.46 and 19.21; 7th: 18.29 and 20.04; 8th: 19.12; 9th: 18.20 and 19.56; 10th: 19.03 and 20.40; 11th: 18.11 and 19.47.
As you watch the ISS will head to the east, arcing from right to left. Sometimes it is higher and brighter than others, and climbs higher in the sky too, but all the passes listed below will be clearly visible to the naked eye. If you have a pair of binoculars you won't see the ISS's huge solar panels, but they will bring out its gold and blue colours as it moves across the sky.
So, on the next clear evening, why not go out into your garden - or even better head out of town away from the bright lights to somewhere dark - and give British astronaut Major Tim Peake a wave as he drifts over us?
Stuart Atkinson
Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal
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