By Will Collette
See this video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nShmgRiAKFU
We have a 6 minutes International Space Station fly-over of Charlestown tonight at 9:14 PM. There was one last night, which I didn't post due to a forecast of cloud cover.
Right now, the sky is overcast but are due to see the clouds clear. For tonight, the National Weather Service forecasts a "partly cloudy" sky. A six minutes overflight - the maximum length - covers almost the entire dome of the sky so the ISS should be visible much of those six minutes for your viewing pleasure.
Tonight's overflights will follow this schedule and path, according to NASA:
Time: Wed Jul 15 9:14 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 46°, Appears: 10° above SSW, Disappears: 12° above ENE
You can take it to the bank that the ISS will do exactly what NASA says it will.
You can enroll for free membership in NASA's listserve for emails on overflights of the International Space Station. You can sign up to get those e-mails here.
The silent majesty of its movements never get old, at least to me.
About the only human space exploration left is the International Space Station.While we wait for humanity to once again reach for the stars, we get to see the ISS serenely cross our skies on occasion when timing, their orbital path and the weather cooperate.
The station will be visible right at the designated start time and will arc over the sky until it reaches the point NASA designates where it will seem to vanish.
This is science, folks, so the times are exact.
We can see the ISS shortly after sunset and also shortly before dawn when the sun's rays hit it just right.
