![spot the international space station spot the international space station](http://news.images.itv.com/image/file/554608/img.jpg)
If you sign up for an alert on NASA's Spot the Station site, you'll generally receive a notification about 12 hours before the space station will pass overhead. Look for a bright star-like spot moving across the sky without changing direction and - voila! - that's the International Space Station. The space station also moves at a much faster pace than a plane, about 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometers) per hour, while a typical airplane clocks in at about 600 miles (965 kilometers) per hour, though their relative distances from the surface don't make for exact speed comparisons. The cumulative volume of its many modules makes it large enough to cover a football field. The main component would be a cable (also called a tether) anchored to the. It may seem like a dot in the night sky, but the space station is actually the size of a six-bedroom house. A space elevator is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system. This value, like maximum height, also is measured in degrees from the horizon. To be exact, the space station flies at 17,500 miles (28,000 km) per hour, and airplanes fly at about 600 miles (965 km) per hour, and a bicycle travels at about 12 miles. It looks a lot like a fast airplane except that’s a lot higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour. Appears is the location in the sky where the station will be visible first. You can easily spot the International Space Station flying overhead. The space station looks like that, except without the flashing lights, so it's a little tougher to spot. If you hold your fist at arm's length and place your fist resting on the horizon, the top will be about 10 degrees. Most of us have seen an airplane moving across the night sky with flashing lights.
![spot the international space station spot the international space station](https://i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/article10392371.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/ISS.jpg)
You just type in what city you live in, and the site offers up-to-date information on the ISS and its trajectory, including alerts that can let you know exactly when to watch the night sky for a space station spotting.
![spot the international space station spot the international space station](https://images.dailyhive.com/20210127091433/international-space-station.jpg)
Most of the time, these circumstances only line up every few weeks.Īnd that's where NASA's Spot the Station website comes in. It must be dark where you are and the space station must be traveling overhead - 40 degrees or more above the horizon - as it continues its trajectory around the globe. For a dawn or dusk space station sighting to occur, conditions have to be just right.