 |
| Ireland and Britain from space, as seen from the ISS. Image NASA |
The 500-tonne International Space Station (ISS) will be visible in the skies over Ireland and Britain shortly after 7 pm this evening (Friday, 15 February 2013).
With clear skies away from west (clearest skies in the east), the $100billion craft will be visible as an extremely bright 'star' moving across the sky from right to left. The most expensive object ever built by mankind will take approximately 11 minutes to cross the sky from 7.01 pm to 7.12 pm (maximum height at 7.07 pm). There will be further viewing opportunities during the next few days (see below chart).
On board the craft at present are five men and one woman - the only six astronauts in space at present.
"You can't miss ISS because it is up to 100 times brighter than the brightest star in the sky! It's that bright!" said David Moore, Editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine who has been predicting and watching ISS since the first module was launched in 1998.
"As mankind's only space laboratory Irish people will be seeing space history in the making. Similar to the craft that took Columbus to the Americas. It's that important to space exploration," he said.
Track the ISS in real-time HERE.
 |
| Click to enlarge. |
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. Later this week, the ISS will pass in front of the Moon and Jupiter in what will be a stunning sight!
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. |
