The ISS at Winter’s End

Weather permitting, the International Space Station will be making some nice visible evening passes across Santa Barbara’s skies during the next week. Its orbit may change, and I’ve only listed the best evening events. To get the latest and most complete predictions, visit Heavens Above.

On Sunday, March 8, the station will rise in the S at 8:09 PM PDT in dim Caelum, the Chisel, go between the two brightest stars in the sky – below Sirius and above Canopus. Canopus will be very low on the southern horizon, and so won’t look very bright. The ISS will continue over our ocean horizon to fade out in dim Pyxis, the Compass, in the SE at 8:11 PM.

On Monday, the ISS will pop up at 8:58 PM in Eridanus in the WSW, climbing into the hooves of Taurus in the W where it will vanish at 9 PM.

Tuesday’s pass will be the best and brightest, starting in the SW at 8:11 PM in Eridanus, and cruising nearly overhead between Orion and Taurus, along the edge of Gemini, and ending in the NE at 8:16 PM in the legs of Ursa Major.

The station will be bright again on Wednesday, rising at 7:24 PM in the SSW, going through Eridanus, below Lepus, close by Sirius, below Procyon, into Leo and Coma Berenices, setting in the ENE at 7:31 PM. It will return on its next orbit at 9:02 PM in the W, skimming our NW horizon from below Aries to Andromeda, below Cassiopeia, and fading out as it reaches Cepheus in the NNW at 9:05 PM.

On Thursday, the ISS will follow a longer, higher version of the late Wednesday path, from Cetus in the W at 8:14 PM, passing below Ursa Minor and into Draco in the NNE, ending at 8:20 PM.

Friday’s pass will be even higher and brighter, from Cetus in the WSW at 7:27 PM, between Perseus and Cassiopeia, below Ursa Minor, and ending at the tip of the tail of Ursa Major at 7:33 PM in the NE.

The last pass of this sequence will be on Sunday, March 15, starting at 7:30 PM in the W, passing below brilliant Venus, into Andromeda, below Cassiopeia, into Cepheus and Draco, ending at 7:35 PM in the NNE.

The ISS will return to our evening skies to start Spring in the last week of March.