can you see the space station in the sky on a clear night?

Answer 1

Yes you can, and if it is a nice clear & still night, and you look at it with a pair of good binoculars, you can see a surprising amount of detail!

There is a downloadable application here that will allow you to know exactly where to look:

http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JTrack/Spacecraft.html

Answer 2

if the international space station is floating above ur city, then on a clear night, i figure u could see it as a bright dot. it wouldn't twinkle because it is much closer to the earth than the stars that do twinkle and so the light that reflects off the space station wont need to refract through the layers of the atmosphere so much. therefore, the space station would look like a bright dot, slightly larger than the other stars around.

Answer 3

Of course you can! In fact, the ISS or International Space Station is quite bright and moves very fast. However, since the ISS doesn't travel over the same spot on the earth below, you will have to check it's orbital ephmeris to see when it passes over your location. Visit some of NASA's websites to see when the ISS is visible in your area.

Answer 4

The space station is easy to see and quite bright (comparable to the brightest planets) when it passes over you at a time when it is in sunlight and you are in shadow, in the early evening or early morning. It moves quite quickly, moving from horizon to horizon in a minute or so.

You kids should have seen Echo I and II back in the early 60's. Now those were bright satellites...

Answer 5

Yes -- if the time it passes over your location corresponds to a time when it's lit by the sun but dark at your location :)

You can get information on when the ISS will be passing over your location and whether it will be lit or not at a nice (free and no pop-up) website called "Heavens Above" -- link below. You should also check out the Iridium flares for your location...these are fun to watch :)

Answer 6

Yes, I have seen it. It looks like a fairly fast moving star going in a straight line. I knew it would be passing overhead one night so I went out and looked for it (there is no light pollution where I live so it wasn't hard to spot).

Answer 7

Yes you can, but it depends on were you live because ISS has a continuous orbit in the same location every 90 minutes. Heres a link to it's oribital flight path http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html
Go there and it tells you about it's current orbit.

Answer 8

not with your bare eye if you had a microscope you probably could

Answer 9

depends where u are but yes