That's no moon...

Current position of the ISS

Finally got a chance to see the International Space Station orbit overhead tonight. Dylan and I watched it from the backyard. The ISS was impossible to miss as it raced across the night sky, passing almost directly overhead, brighter than any star. Watching it, one gets an inkling of what people must have felt when they saw Sputnik in orbit -- exactly 50 years ago today.

ISS overpasses like this one only happen a few times a year. The friendly algorithms at Heavens-Above predict them for any given location; but many are obscured by clouds, or stick too near the horizon, or occur in the wee hours. This one was at a few minutes before 8pm, had a brightness of -2.3, and rose to 81 degrees. And Saturday's overpass (in the DC area: SW-NE, 7:06-7:12pm) looks to be even better. That's even before Diesel goes to sleep: perhaps we'll make it a full family affair.