How to Find the International Space Station in Your Area

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18966162
I clicked on the ISS link and was able to see the Earth was moving under the ISS, but how does that tell me WHEN the ISS will be in my neighborhood?

there is a link to 10 day predictions for satellites of special interest (incl ISS)

Last night, November 25, 2019 the ISS was scheduled to fly over my city at 5:50PM:

Visible 4 Minutes - Max Height 75 Deg. - Appears 35 Deg. Above SW - Disappears 11 Deg. Above ENE

I was outside before 5:50PM (I have a Radio Controlled / Atomic watch) and was looking in the SW direction but I never saw the ISS

75 Degrees above the horizon should have been high enough for me to spot the ISS but I never did. I had my 70-300 lens on my camera hoping to get a few pictures. Man was I disappointed.

joeseph wrote in post #18966168
there is a link to 10 day predictions for satellites of special interest (incl ISS)

I just found that, thank you Joe. What area of the globe is this information good for? Does it pick up where I live automatically?

It did not show anything for my area for last night like spot the station said I should have seen.

It does show what is shown in the first image. What does "Brightness (mag)" of negative numbers tell me?

The second screen shot for Dec. 15 I do not understand anything in this shot.

I picked Dec. 15 because the highest point is 76 degrees. I am thinking the lower numbers would be low enough in the sky they may be behind the trees close to the horizon.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18966162
I clicked on the ISS link and was able to see the Earth was moving under the ISS, but how does that tell me WHEN the ISS will be in my neighborhood?

When you register which is free you put in your location coordinates so that when you visit it knows your exact location . Then there is a chart that shows dates and time it’s visible and exact time and length to see it and location it appears .

You log in , find the ISS link under satellite predictions for next ten days , click ISS , page changes gives you choice for that day or all time . Choose all time and chart shows dates in blue which are links to chart for that date . Which shows a sky chart showing the path of the ISS .

HA has links for all satellites and Iridium Flares among lots of other objects . I once saw the Hubble Telescope come over one night .

When i put in my coordinations at H-A i got precise location by using the Google Map and zeroed in on my house and used that exact location at Heavens Above . It saves your location when you register .

Celestron wrote in post #18966279
When you register which is free you put in your location coordinates so that when you visit it knows your exact location . Then there is a chart that shows dates and time it’s visible and exact time and length to see it and location it appears .

You log in , find the ISS link under satellite predictions for next ten days , click ISS , page changes gives you choice for that day or all time . Choose all time and chart shows dates in blue which are links to chart for that date . Which shows a sky chart showing the path of the ISS .

HA has links for all satellites and Iridium Flares among lots of other objects . I once saw the Hubble Telescope come over one night .

Celestron wrote in post #18966287
When i put in my coordinations at H-A i got precise location by using the Google Map and zeroed in on my house and used that exact location at Heavens Above . It saves your location when you register .

I did get registered, and I used the "What3words" for my location which worked very well.

Can you tell me what the "Brightness (mag)" means with negative (or positive) numbers?

According to spot the station ISS was to pass over me last night at 75 degrees which seems to me would be close enough to looking straight up I should not have had a problem in finding it. We did have clear skies last night.

I would think an elevation of 10 to 30 degrees would be low enough the ISS would be behind buildings or trees.

The chart below is for my area with the highest "height" at 42 degrees for Nov 27. If I do happen to have clear skies tomorrow on the 27th it seems to me I probably would not see the ISS.

Do you feel Heavens Above is better than Spot the Station?

Thank you!

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18966310
I did get registered, and I used the "What3words" for my location which worked very well.

Can you tell me what the "Brightness (mag)" means with negative (or positive) numbers?

According to spot the station ISS was to pass over me last night at 75 degrees which seems to me would be close enough to looking straight up I should not have had a problem in finding it. We did have clear skies last night.

I would think an elevation of 10 to 30 degrees would be low enough the ISS would be behind buildings or trees.

The chart below is for my area with the highest "height" at 42 degrees for Nov 27. If I do happen to have clear skies tomorrow on the 27th it seems to me I probably would not see the ISS.

Do you feel Heavens Above is better than Spot the Station?

Thank you!

Hosted photo: posted by Inspeqtor in
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forum: Astronomy & Celestial

I’ve never used Spot The Station . Honestly i knew there were other sites to help find it but never checked others out . Reason i like H-A is because of all the other objects you can see when it’s visible at your location and i usually did everything at home .

Iridium Flare are one of my favorite objects to see but with all satellite changes there is less and less to see . The +/- signs indicate the brightness of your object . The minus sign means the bigger the minus the brighter the object is . The Plus signs mean just the oposite , the larger the plus number is the dimmer and harder it is to see .

But when i looked for things i always set my watch to exactly match the time with H-A which has a clock time link lower down on the home page . It automatically detects and gives the correct time for your location . There is a sky map for every object with location where it enters visibility and where it disappears back into earths shadow . Iridium Flares are short so timing is critical for catching it on images . I usually trip my shutter 5-secs before it’s suppose to appear then i try doing at least 20-25 secs exposure . IF are short , they brighten quickly and at most 3-7 secs long .

I’ll check out the one you posted and see what it does . Thanks for the link !

Celestron wrote in post #18966422
I’ve never used Spot The Station . Honestly i knew there were other sites to help find it but never checked others out . Reason i like H-A is because of all the other objects you can see when it’s visible at your location and i usually did everything at home .

Iridium Flare are one of my favorite objects to see but with all satellite changes there is less and less to see . The +/- signs indicate the brightness of your object . The minus sign means the bigger the minus the brighter the object is . The Plus signs mean just the oposite , the larger the plus number is the dimmer and harder it is to see .

But when i looked for things i always set my watch to exactly match the time with H-A which has a clock time link lower down on the home page . It automatically detects and gives the correct time for your location . There is a sky map for every object with location where it enters visibility and where it disappears back into earths shadow . Iridium Flares are short so timing is critical for catching it on images . I usually trip my shutter 5-secs before it’s suppose to appear then i try doing at least 20-25 secs exposure . IF are short , they brighten quickly and at most 3-7 secs long .

I’ll check out the one you posted and see what it does . Thanks for the link !

Thank you!

I'm a long time Heavens Above user too and just had a look at Spot the Station. I set it up for my location and a key difference was immediately apparent.
Heavens Above shows the Brightness (mag) and that is my first selection criteria. The more negative the number, the brighter it is.
For comparison, Venus is the really bright "star" in the west just after sunset at the moment and that's mag -3.7. You can't miss it.
So if the ISS is mag -3.7 you won't miss that either. Close to Venus is Jupiter at -1.8. If you're looking in the right direction for the ISS at that brightness, it's easy to see.

The brightness also tends to indicate how visible the path is across the sky. Brighter ones tend to be high in the sky and are visible for longer while the less bright ones are either short or near the horizon.
So I can run my eye down the table and decide at a glance, which ones are worth looking out for. Then click on the line and the chart will show you where it's coming from and going to. You might see that it's starting near Jupiter and heading towards the Moon.

Steve.

SteveInNZ wrote in post #18966640
I'm a long time Heavens Above user too and just had a look at Spot the Station. I set it up for my location and a key difference was immediately apparent.
Heavens Above shows the Brightness (mag) and that is my first selection criteria. The more negative the number, the brighter it is.
For comparison, Venus is the really bright "star" in the west just after sunset at the moment and that's mag -3.7. You can't miss it.
So if the ISS is mag -3.7 you won't miss that either. Close to Venus is Jupiter at -1.8. If you're looking in the right direction for the ISS at that brightness, it's easy to see.

The brightness also tends to indicate how visible the path is across the sky. Brighter ones tend to be high in the sky and are visible for longer while the less bright ones are either short or near the horizon.
So I can run my eye down the table and decide at a glance, which ones are worth looking out for. Then click on the line and the chart will show you where it's coming from and going to. You might see that it's starting near Jupiter and heading towards the Moon.

Steve.

Brightness is a very nice feature. I would have thought the brighter number would be + not - but since I know now from Celestron that helps me there.

One thing Spot the station does which is nice that I mentioned in my first post is emailing me the notification of when it will be in my neighborhood. I got one this morning.

Today it is very cloudy here. No chance I will see it. It is a typical winter day in Indiana.

How is it possible on some days it will be visible 2 times in the same area just 1 hour 28 minutes apart? Does the ISS travel around the globe that fast? Are there times it might be visible more than 2 times in the same area?

The ISS can does travel that fast and yes sometimes can be seen several times a month but sometimes maybe early morning and sometimes late at night . But it would be rare for it to travel the same exact path two nights in a row . There will always be some deg in altitude difference and length of time visible . I even did a video one late evening of it that lasted over two minutes . I use to have it on youtube but closed my account there couple years back .

Celestron wrote in post #18966083
I’ve just always used www.heavens-above.com .

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18966162
I clicked on the ISS link and was able to see the Earth was moving under the ISS, but how does that tell me WHEN the ISS will be in my neighborhood?

I know that there are a lot of tracking sirtes out there but I have always preferred heavens-above as well. To find out when it is visible in your area, first, set you location. It's in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you use the map, you can almost zoom into you house. Then click update and it return you to the main page. Look for the "10-day predictions for satellites of special interest" and just under that is ISS. It defaults to "visible only" but you can click the "show all" and see every pass. It's nice because it also gives you the magnitude as well. Look for the brightest passes. Last week we had a -3.8 pass. For a few seconds, it was the brightest thing in the sky and moving fast.

According to "Spot the Station" Tomorrow December 24th the ISS will fly over my area for 6 minutes at 7:17AM at a height of 42 degrees which is kinda low. I know that 90 degrees would be straight up. How do I know which direction to look for the ISS from 90.... to the left or right as it comes towards me?

Christmas morning it will be 69 degrees for 4 minutes which will be higher in the sky than the 42 degrees.

Yesterday the 22nd it flew over at 74 degrees. I was able to finally find it but it was not coming from the direction it said it would be coming.
It said it would be coming from the SW, but when I finally found it it was coming more from the W which surprised me.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18979376
According to "Spot the Station" Tomorrow December 24th the ISS will fly over my area for 6 minutes at 7:17AM at a height of 42 degrees which is kinda low. I know that 90 degrees would be straight up. How do I know which direction to look for the ISS from 90.... to the left or right as it comes towards me?

Christmas morning it will be 69 degrees for 4 minutes which will be higher in the sky than the 42 degrees.

Yesterday the 22nd it flew over at 74 degrees. I was able to finally find it but it was not coming from the direction it said it would be coming.
It said it would be coming from the SW, but when I finally found it it was coming more from the W which surprised me.

Thats why i prefer Heavens Above cause it gives a map showing it’s path by an altitude chart . But mainly if you have an iPhone or other phone with internet abilities you can download a compass and use it to get your true North directions and then face the direction the ISS is coming from . Sometimes if it’s coming directly at you it’s hard to see unless you watch for the brightness of it . It can start out looking like a dim star til it get brightest point . Watch tree tops or anything stationary to help determine movement . 50 degrees altitude should be plenty high to see easy depending your altitude . I’m at luckily 32-deg alt so i can see Polaris easily . So for me 50 degs is pretty decent and easy to see . Good luck on your sighting !

Celestron wrote in post #18979469
Thats why i prefer Heavens Above cause it gives a map showing it’s path by an altitude chart . But mainly if you have an iPhone or other phone with internet abilities you can download a compass and use it to get your true North directions and then face the direction the ISS is coming from . Sometimes if it’s coming directly at you it’s hard to see unless you watch for the brightness of it . It can start out looking like a dim star til it get brightest point . Watch tree tops or anything stationary to help determine movement . 50 degrees altitude should be plenty high to see easy depending your altitude . I’m at luckily 32-deg alt so i can see Polaris easily . So for me 50 degs is pretty decent and easy to see . Good luck on your sighting !

Is this the map you are referring to? If it is, this map is way over my head for understanding what it is trying to tell me. This is for tomorrow, Dec. 24th at 7:17AM. I did click on the map and saw different information come up that again I do not understand.