macpuzl
Weather permitting, the International Space Station will be making visible passes through Santa Barbara’s evening skies. Its orbit may change, so to get the latest and most complete predictions, or predawn appearances, visit Heavens Above.
On Monday, March 11, the ISS will rise in the SSW at 8:11 PM PDT, for a bright pass from below Orion and his Big Dog, and fading out in our shadow as it nears dim reddish Alphard, the heart of Hydra, at 8:14 PM in the SE.
On Tuesday, it will start in the WSW in Eridanus at 8:59 PM, cruise by bright Jupiter, and vanish as it reaches Algol, the Demon Star in Perseus in the WNW at 9:02 PM.
Wednesday’s pass will be the best and brightest, rising at 8:11 PM in the SW, and soaring overhead from Eridanus, through the face of Taurus, by bright Capella, through dim Camelopardalis, and then skim along the Big Dipper, setting at the end of its handle in the NE at 8:16 PM.
On Thursday, the station will make a low pass over our NW horizon, starting at 9:01 PM below Jupiter, then going under the W of Cassiopeia, and into her dim husband, Cepheus, where it will vanish at 9:04 PM in the N.
Friday’s pass will be a higher version of Thursday’s trajectory, appearing in the W at 8:12 PM and continuing past Cepheus to below the Little Dipper and into Draco to disappear at 8:17 PM in the NNE.
The ISS will skip a day, then make a dim pass on St. Patrick’s Day, very low in the NW to N from 8:14 PM to 8:16 PM.
The space station will be back to usher in Spring near the end of the month.
Hasta nebula,
Chuck
I looked SSW for the March 11, 8:11pm ISS and never saw anything
Do you know your directions? The orbit didn’t change as far as I can see.
However, I could not get out to observe the pass tonight.
Given that there were just some capsules going up to the ISS, it may be that any related orbit change has not yet been used to recompute the visibility on the heavens-above site..
Well, the ISS appeared right on schedule tonight, so I suspect you were looking at the wrong part of the sky. The offshore islands are pretty much directly south.