Great weather for a 6-minute ISS flight over Charlestown

Clear sky, cold temp as the International Space Station flies over Charlestown

By Will Collette

The rain is forecast to end later this afternoon, leaving us with mostly clear sky and temps of around 35 degrees.

Just in time for a 5-minute flyover of the ISS starting at 8:19 PM.

It will appear at 10 degrees over the horizon in the northwest and rise to 76 degrees overhead. Almost straight up. Then it will recede and disappear at 30 degrees over the horizon in the east southeast.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for mostly clear skies and a temp as low as 35 degrees.

ISS passes through our skies quite often and I always enjoy seeing it. It passes silently. a sharp bright point of light that appears when it catches the sunlight and then disappears when it reaches the earth's shadow.

6-7 Six minutes is roughly the maximum amount of time it takes for the ISS to make the journey from horizon to horizon. Five minutes is pretty good.

The International Space Station is one of the few manned space ventures we have left and still serves some scientific purpose as well as one place where the US and Russia cooperate. 

NASA maintains a website and an e-mail list that help you keep track of these overflights. You can get yourself added to the e-mail list so you can receive notice the day of an overflight. CLICK HERE to sign up.

I don't post every overflight. I skip those that are less than 5 minutes or appear on nights where weather is likely to spoil the view.

Here is the notice I received from NASA:

Time: Fri Mar 29 8:19 PM, Visible: 5 min, Max Height: 76°, Appears: 10° above NW, Disappears: 30° above ESE