how visible is the ISS to the naked eye when it passes over? is it a bigger dot than a satellite?

Answer 1

I saw it ! it will look like a dot as big as the planets and if you use your starry night program you can use a printout map of your area of sky and know what stars it will be by for sure at a certain time.

i do it all the time ..acording to my starry night program tonight around 10:45 it will pass by cassiopeia . grab binocs!!

Answer 2

It looks like a very bright star moving at about the speed you would expect to see an airliner fly over. In fact, you might mistake it for an airliner with the landing light on, at least at first. But an as an airliner gets closer you can see other details, like the red and green lights or the flashing lights, or even see the shape of the airplane. But the space station just looks like a dot. A telescope will show detail, if you can follow it with the telescope. That is not easy to do, because it moves pretty fast, taking less than 10 minutes to cross from horizon to horizon, but some people have done it.

Answer 3

The ISS is a satellite. It's just larger than most satellites, and has humans inside it.

On a clear night, the ISS should be a highly visible bright dot, about as bright as Venus or Jupiter. It moves quite quickly across the sky, disappearing in less than 5 minutes.

Answer 4

I've seen the ISS several times from Northern Arizona. It does look as bright as Venus, Saturn or Jupiter, but moving about as fast as a commercial airliner. It is generally only visible at dusk or dawn where, wherever you're standing is mostly dark but the ISS is already (or still) in the sunlight, depending on whether it's sunrise or sunset. Check out the Nasa website for exact sighting times for your location.

Answer 5

Very visible...more like Venus can take 8-9 minutes to travel from horizon to horizon...You can find out when a fly over is happening at your location here...

Heavens above.com