Ireland and Britain from space, as seen from the ISS. Image NASA
The 500-tonne International Space Station (ISS) will be visible in the night sky over Ireland and the UK each night during the next week, although the best viewing opportunities are not expected until Tuesday (see times/trajectory below).
Viewing opportunities tonight will vary depending on your location due to cloud cover extending northeast across the country. The Station will take on the appearance of a bright star racing from west to East across the southern skies. It will take approximately 9-10 minutes to cross the sky.
The International Space Station is the largest spacecraft ever to be put into orbit, and the most expensive thing ever built, at approximately €100 billion. The huge craft is roughly the size of Croke Park, and its massive solar panels reflect sunlight, making it appear extremely bright when seen from Earth. It current has a crew of six astronauts on board, made of five men and one woman.
Track the ISS in real-time HERE. More information on the International Space Station can be found at www.astronomy.ie/iss.
For more time-lapse imagery, visit the NASA website: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos. From here, NASA invites you to download videos or stills to enjoy or perhaps even create an ISS time-lapse video production of your own.
Tim Murphy from Boherbue in Co Cork captured this image of the International Space Station (ISS) zooming across the skies over Millstreet, Co Cork, on Thursday, 28 April 2011.
This image of Ireland was taken on the 28th April 2011 at 18.30 GMT from the International Space Station as it passed over the UK.
The east coast of Ireland, as well as the Welsh coastline, is clearly visible. The weather conditions on the ground at the time were hazy which created this obscure but beautiful capture.
