Thanks to Chandra Clark at Samford University for passing this along…. the sky will be crystal clear.
The International Space Station will fly over Thursday evening and be
readily visible. The ISS is getting so big now that under the right
conditions it is very bright. Tomorrow night is one of those times. At
its peak on this fly-over, it will be a magnitude -2.3, which is
brighter than Jupiter is now. (Jupiter is the upper of the two evening
stars visible now. The lower one is Venus, which is the brightest.)
Here’s what to do to see the ISS:
Thursday, November 20
At about 5:11 look at the southwest sky and you should soon see it
rising. It will brighten and pass overhead at about 5:13 (slightly to
the SE of straight overhead), and continue toward the NE and disappear
around 5:16. If the sky is clear and you are looking up at about 5:13
you can’t miss it.
If you are interested in other passes (not as bright), see the
attached table. It will also fly over tonight (magnitude -0.7, passing
lower across the NW sky from 6:20-6:23 PM, being eclipsed while still
up in the sky), Friday night (magnitude -0.5, again passing across the
NW sky from 5:37-5:42 PM), and Sunday night (magnitude -0.4, passing
across the NW sky from 4:54-4:58 PM).
If you are interested in other similar things and are on Samford
campus tonight at 6:01:55 PM, turn toward the south and look about 1/3
of the way up in the sky and you will see an Iridium flare (magnitude
-7!). You will have to be looking at that precise moment, however, as
it lasts only about 3 seconds. This is one of the Iridium satellites
reflecting the sun off its giant antenna back toward us. But, these
sighting are very limited in where they can be seen, so if you are not
on the campus, you may not see it at precisely that moment (or at
all). I have also attached a table showing upcoming Iridium flares.
There will be another bright one (-8!) in almost the same spot in the
sky on November 24 at precisely 5:39:48 PM (seen from Samford).
I get my information from a great sight called Heavens Above but you
have to sign up with them and then put in the latitude, longitude, and
elevation of your observation site.
One other site you should not miss is the conjunction of the new moon,
Jupiter, and Venus on the evening of December 1. Look toward west just
after sunset.
Happy viewing.
International Space Station Fly-overs
Date Mag Starts Max. altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
19 Nov -0.7 18:20:17 10 WSW 18:22:53 29 NW 18:22:53 29 NW
20 Nov -2.3 17:10:45 10 SW 17:13:38 68 SE 17:16:32 10 NE
21 Nov -0.5 17:37:11 10 W 17:39:42 26 NW 17:41:57 12 NNE
23 Nov -0.4 16:54:00 10 W 16:56:26 23 NW 16:58:52 10 NNE
Iridium Flares as seen from Samford
Date Local
Time Intensity
( Mag) Alt. Azimuth Distance to
flare centre Intensity at
flare centre
(Mag.) Satellite
19 Nov 18:01:55 -7 33° 174° (S ) 5.3 km (E) -7 Iridium 60
22 Nov 06:10:29 -7 68° 345° (NNW) 4.1 km (W) -9 Iridium 96
22 Nov 06:12:52 -2 67° 342° (NNW) 20.6 km (W) -8 Iridium 29
22 Nov 17:00:26 -4 13° 269° (W ) 41.7 km (E) -5 Iridium 25
23 Nov 06:06:51 -8 66° 346° (NNW) 2.3 km (E) -8 Iridium 32
23 Nov 17:46:19 -3 33° 183° (S ) 13.3 km (W) -7 Iridium 28
23 Nov 17:46:52 -0 32° 184° (S ) 35.2 km (W) -7 Iridium 95
24 Nov 17:39:48 -8 34° 184° (S ) 1.1 km (W) -8 Iridium 96
24 Nov 17:40:45 -4 33° 184° (S ) 10.7 km (E) -7 Iridium 30
25 Nov 05:55:59 -1 63° 340° (NNW) 22.0 km (W) -9 Iridium 94
David A Johnson
Department of Biology
Samford University
Birmingham AL 35229
