Space Week 2020: How to Watch the ISS Fly Even Without a Telescope

Space Week is the largest space event that is being celebrated every October 4 to 10. Space Week 2020 has a theme of "Satellites Improve Life" and will be celebrated in various space-related activities organized by thousands of organizations including aerospace companies, schools, grassroots organizations, and space agencies, including NASA.

As the world celebrates Space Week 2020, it is best to celebrate it with a sighting of the International Space Station (ISS). On Tuesday, October 6, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center announced on Twitter that the ISS will be flying over "from the northwest around 7:36 p.m. this evening."

The tweet included a link to the sighting schedule, in which users can change the location to get the more specific time of sighting. The time shared by The Marshall is based on sighting for Huntsville, Alabama. The schedule includes the daily sighting until Sunday, October 11.

For October 6, the ISS can be seen for three minutes, which will enough to view the station as it moves at a fast speed. It will show up from the west-northwest part of the sky then move towards the south-southeast while it reaches a peak elevation at about 68 degrees above the horizon.

To see the ISS, it would require a sighting opportunity since it moves really fast and it is not always visible in naked eyes. Meanwhile, the cloudiness will not have a huge effect the viewing conditions as temperatures will fall at about 60 degrees.

The ISS becomes visible even without the need for a telescope because just like the moon, it reflects the light from the sun. However, it is in a different position every time it passes at different time. Also, it is possible that the station would appear incredibly visible and bright for a few minutes while there are also times that it appears very dim, so it cannot be seen.

For Wednesday, October 7, the ISS can be spotted twice: at 6:49 p.m. for about 6 minutes then at 8:27 p.m. for just a minute.

Read also: ISS is the Dragon's Nest!-2 SpaceX Dragons from Crew and Cargo Missions Will Dock on November; Atleast One Anchored for Whole 2021!

The International Space Station facts

• Since November 2000, the ISS has been continuously occupied with about 240 individuals from 19 countries visited it.
• The ISS makes 16 orbits of Earth within 24 hours or about every 90 minutes as travels at five miles per second
• Six people live and work in the ISS. On Sept. 2, 2017, Peggy Whitson set the record for most time living and working in ISS with a total of 665 days.
• The ISS living and working space is bigger than a six-bedroom house. It has six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, and a 360-degree view bay window. It also includes a gym, so astronauts work out to to mitigate the loss of bone and muscle mass
• Since December 1998, astronauts and cosmonauts have made at least 230 spacewalks as they do construction, upgrades, and maintenance in the station.
• After being launched from Earth, a spacecraft can reach the space station as fast as four hours.

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Written by CJ Robles