The International Space Station flying over the UK

Over the next couple of weeks, the International Space Station will make several incredibly bright appearances in the evening sky over the UK, including bright appearances in the early evening of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

On most evenings between now and then, the ISS will make an appearance in the early evening as the second brightest object in the sky after the Moon, and take around two minutes to fly over from west to east.

The ISS is easiest to observe with the naked eye, appearing as a very bright moving point of light. Through binoculars its rectangular outline is just about apparent, but it moves so fast that it can be tricky to hold the binoculars steady – I have found that image-stabilised binoculars make this much easier, though they are relatively expensive.

The table below lists the provisional times when the ISS will be visible from London in coming days, and includes diagrams of each pass. These times may change by a minute or so nearer the time if the ISS performs powered manoeuvres to change its orbit. A more up-to-date list, updated daily, can be found here.

Click on any of the times listed below to open a planetarium view of each event.

  Start Highest End  
Date Time Dir Alt Mag Time Dir Alt Mag Time Dir Alt Mag Diagram of pass
Dec 13 16:59:12 SSW 10° 2.0 17:01:52 SSE 24° -1.3 17:04:22 E 12° -1.2 View chart
Dec 13 18:35:29 WSW 14° 2.1 18:37:04 WSW 38° -0.8 18:37:09 WSW 40° -1.0 View chart
Dec 14 17:45:46 SW 19° 1.7 17:47:56 SSE 56° -2.7 17:48:51 ESE 38° -2.8 View chart
Dec 15 16:54:34 SW 10° 3.9 16:57:39 SSE 41° -2.0 17:00:34 E 12° -1.2 View chart
Dec 15 18:31:28 W 15° 2.3 18:33:13 W 44° -1.1 18:33:18 W 47° -1.4 View chart
Dec 16 17:42:14 WSW 28° 0.9 17:43:49 S 80° -3.0 17:44:59 E 38° -2.8 View chart
Dec 17 16:50:33 WSW 12° 4.5 16:53:33 SSE 66° -2.6 16:56:43 E 11° -1.2 View chart
Dec 17 18:27:30 W 15° 2.1 18:29:25 W 52° -1.7 18:29:30 W 56° -1.9 View chart
Dec 18 17:38:20 W 31° 0.5 17:39:50 NE 88° -3.1 17:41:10 E 33° -2.7 View chart
Dec 19 16:47:03 W 17° 2.8 16:49:28 S 86° -2.8 16:52:53 E 10° -1.0 View chart
Dec 19 18:23:33 W 16° 1.9 18:25:38 WSW 60° -2.1 18:25:43 WSW 64° -2.3 View chart
Dec 20 17:32:32 W 10° 2.9 17:35:47 SW 87° -3.0 17:37:32 E 26° -2.2 View chart
Dec 21 16:43:38 W 24° 1.2 16:45:28 NNW 88° -2.9 16:48:53 E -1.0 View chart
Dec 21 18:19:35 W 16° 2.0 18:22:00 SSW 51° -2.1 18:22:10 S 51° -2.3 View chart
Dec 22 17:29:03 W 14° 2.2 17:31:43 SSW 67° -2.5 17:34:08 ESE 17° -1.5 View chart
Dec 22 19:05:38 W 11° 2.5 19:06:48 WSW 18° 1.1 19:06:53 WSW 18° 1.0 View chart
Dec 23 16:38:30 W 13° 2.2 16:41:25 SSW 81° -2.6 16:44:50 ESE 10° -0.9 View chart
Dec 23 18:15:21 W 13° 2.7 18:17:51 SSW 30° -0.6 18:19:01 S 24° -1.1 View chart
Dec 24 17:26:02 W 24° 1.6 17:27:37 SSW 43° -1.1 17:30:52 SE 10° -0.6 View chart
Dec 24 19:02:32 WSW 10° 2.2 19:03:37 SW 11° 1.2 19:04:07 SSW 11° 0.9 View chart
Dec 25 16:39:44 ESE 17° -1.2 16:39:44 ESE 17° -1.2 16:40:39 ESE 10° -0.6 View chart
Dec 25 18:11:57 WSW 13° 2.9 18:13:32 SW 17° 1.0 18:15:47 S 10° 0.2 View chart
Dec 26 17:22:06 WSW 19° 2.6 17:23:26 SSW 25° 0.6 17:26:11 SSE 10° -0.1 View chart

The data above was taken from In-The-Sky.org.

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