Behold! The spacestation of tomorrow.

Factual Questions
1

Let me disclaimer myself first. I have little workable knowledge of the space program, the distance from here to the moon, basic math or even how to get to Naperville from my house downtown.

So pardon me if my question is beyond sophomoric, rather kindergartenic.

That said, when will I be able to see the spacestation that’s being constructed with the naked eye in the night sky? We can see satelites as little light pin pricks, but I imagine the international spacestation is much bigger than that already. Can we see it now? And how much bigger is it going to get? I assume that eventually it will take up a lot of space on my pretty, natural star glittered horizon.

jarbaby

2

Yep, when complete, the ISS will be one of the brightest objects in the sky, visible even to city-dwellers. It’s quite visible right now. Here is the viewing schedule for several thousand locations. I hope you are fortunate enough to live near one of them.

(You know, I havent seen that puppy yet, either. Looks like I have something to do this evening.)

3

thanks, sofa.

Doesn’t it seem a little, saddening though? There’s nothing more beautiful than a night sky, riddled with stars, especially up in the mountains, away from city lights.

And now, there’ll be some clunky, Lego shape right in the middle of it.

sigh the future really IS now, I guess.

jarbaby

4

Even when it’s fully completed it won’t be more than a bright, moving “star”.

And think of it as a beacon of humanity’s highest hopes and aspirations.

5

Or something to crash onto my apartment building and kill my family if the faulty copper wires for the water heater doesn’t explode and do it first. :slight_smile:

jarbaby

6

Oh, the Mir space station will get you long before the ISS does.

7

http://www.heavens-above.com/ - predictions of Space Station sightings, Iridium satellite flares, and other sightings. Tailored to your location. You can use http://www.mapblast.com to determine your own latitude and longitude, and use Mapblast’s “advanced search” function to generate a map for a given latitude and longitude.

Visual Satellite Observer’s Home Page -
http://www.satellite.eu.org/sat/vsohp/

Also read the newsgroup sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe.

An interesting photo of geosynchronous satellites taken from the ground. The photographer took a camera, pointed it at the sky, and took a very long exposure. Stars made trails, and the geosynchronous satellites showed up as small dots.
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr01/0106images.html