The international space station

[cheapandcheerful]

Which direction do we look?

I've figured out that it goes from west to east at 5:22pm today but do we look north or south?

I've seen it quite a few times. Doesn't it tell you the direction to look in and the angle of elevation( ie. if it's overhead or lower down in the sky?

South.

Then look south. If you know what angle to look in you should be able to spot it. It doesn't flash like a plane and sometimes you can follow it for a fews mins until it disappears. Get outside a few mins earlier so your eyes get used to the dark and if you're looking in the right direction, you'll see it. It's quite exciting!

I am looking forward to this. Is it really obvious what it is ? I am in the south and close (ish) to an airport, so lots of stuff going on in the skies around us.
Are the lights constantly going then ?

I think it says 30 or 35 degrees. We'll look south then and wish the clouds away!

It will look like a bright, white light. Planes will have flashing lights so you will be able to tell. I have seen it before thought it was a very slow moving shooting star at first!

The most obvious thing is that it doesn't flash ,it's a constant light which gradually fades as it gets further away from the sun. It doesn't have it's own light source, it reflects the sun's light. When you've seen it once you'll spot it easier next time. I've got an app called ISS tracker. I'll look for it too but in my area it's going to be very low in the sky so it could be behind the hill!

Look south westish, about 30 degrees high (ie less than half way up)

It'll look like a very fast moving plane. If you have good clear skies and keen eyesight you can persuade yourself that it's a sort of oblong shape.

The Night Sky app also shows its position.

You can't mistake it for anything else, should be obvious.

Does not speed like a shooting star, more like a gentle arc traced across the night sky so you have plenty of time to spot it, watch it then tick it off your to do list.

We have seen it several times and can make out the shape clearly i.e. a rectangle with flat wings either side but then we don't have a lot of light pollution so easier for us.

It just passed over (southern Europe). It's already dark here. On second thoughts it could have been Santa!

We saw it! It was brilliant! 4yo dd and her little friend chased it all the way along the seafront until it disappeared :)

That was brilliant, it was so clear.
Dts have proudly told people we have seen the Astronautal space station
Does anyone know where I can find out when we can see it again ?

If you get the ISS Detector app for android it tells you all the times you can see it. Sometimes you can see it twice in the same night! It can be quite addictive!