BYO Death Ray: Space station spotting

Dylan headed out into the field (just outside his house) to see the International Space Station. Here is his report.

On January 3, 2014 at 9:36pm, I was able to see the International Space Station for around six minutes, passing from the NNW (north-north-west) towards the ESE (east-south-east) at 50 degrees. As I was seeing it for the first time, I did not know what to expect. The skies were very clear and at around 9:38, I saw a fast moving straight white dot/line travelling in the correct direction. Using a compass and my notepad I took down some observations about the sighting.

• It travelled in the correct direction at 50 degrees from the horizon.
• It travelled faster and straighter than any other object in the sky.
• It is one of the brightest objects in the sky.
• It is far away from the stars and easy to see when you find it.

The ISS is the brighter dot in the centre of the screen as I took the photo.

On the 5th of January, I should have been able to see it again at the same time, this time from the WNW (west-north-west) heading to the SE (south-east) at 9:36pm. It actually ended up appearing a few minutes late and from the NNW, and it was slightly less bright than before. This time I managed to take a video.

The ISS can be seen in the middle of the screen. The camera is following the ISS as it travels across the sky at 28,000 km/h. See it for yourself one night!

The ISS is really interesting as it is a different object compared to things like stars and aeroplanes and is definitely worth a look.

Want to take a video/photo? My recommendation is to get a camera with HDR (high dynamic range) display. My iPad had it and that’s the only way I got the video.

International space links

• You too can see the ISS from anywhere in the world, this NASA website has all the information on getting alerts for your location and how to see it.
• What is the ISS? This page has all the information you need about the ISS, why it is there, what it does and who goes up there.

See more articles by Dylan in the BYO Death Ray section of our site.

Are you planning a science adventure? We'd love you to share it here on Death Ray Science News. Send your report to deathrayscience@gmail.com. Have