Viewing The International Space Station from Santa Barbara

As reported in Edhat on July 22, the International Space Station (ISS), was scheduled to make a number of passes over Santa Barbara County in late July.

The ISS is a monumental achievement in engineering and diplomacy, stands as the largest human-made structure in space, and is a testament to unprecedented international cooperation. Weighing nearly a million pounds and spanning 356 feet, it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. Orbiting 260 miles above Earth at 17,100 mph, the ISS completes 15.5 orbits daily, now nearing 150,000 orbits in total. It serves as a unique microgravity laboratory for diverse scientific research.

The station’s living and working quarters are more spacious than a six-bedroom house, featuring six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window. Astronauts exercise at least two hours daily to counter muscle and bone density loss in microgravity.

Peggy Whitson holds the U.S. record for total time in space, with 665 days. The image below showcases the ISS as viewed by the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour following its undocking in November 2021.

That motivated me to photograph it—as I reported in Edhat on July 16. Equipped with newfound enthusiasm, I utilized Stellarium planetarium software and NASA’s Spot The Station app to plan another attempt for Thursday, July 24th.

The ISS was predicted to appear in the west/northwest at 9:30 PM as a bright star. By 9:32 PM moving east, it would pass Polaris, becoming brighter. A minute later, it would be above and east of Cassiopeia, reaching a brightness similar to Sirius. Then it would intensify further when crossing Pegasus a minute later before disappearing in the east around 9:35 PM.

So I photographed it from More Mesa, aiming my camera in a northerly direction. With a wide-angle lens set at f/4 and ISO set to 250 and using a 30-minute exposure I captured about half of its arc as it moved gracefully and silently across the sky among star trails.

With the weather cooperating nicely I returned the following night and got this shot with a shorter ISS track through the western sky:

Despite an unfavorable weather forecast, I had my most spectacular ISS sighting yet on Saturday night. Starting just before 9:30 PM west of Ursa Major, it rose towards Ursa Minor and by 9:33 PM soared up and eastward into Lyra, while shining as bright as the planets of Jupiter and Venus, before fading in the east. The photo captures only a small part of its arc as it moves out of the frame. I used a 35-minute exposure to create star trails around Polaris near the north celestial pole.

For my Sunday, July 27th observation, I chose a different location: Laguna Blanca. Looking north over the clear skies of La Cumbre Country Club, I had a pleasant view of the ISS transit, although the twilight wasn’t ideal for seeing its track. It appeared at 8:42 PM below Ursa Major and then passed under Ursa Minor a minute later. Then it became brighter as it moved eastward through Cepheus, Cygnus, and Pegasus before fading from view at 8:46 PM. Even with a 14mm lens, I couldn’t capture its entire arc. Due to the lighter sky, I used only a 6-minute exposure, which resulted in shorter star trails.

On Monday, July 28th, I returned to More Mesa. The western sky was partially lit by a 20% moon setting with Mars. At 9:30 PM I watched the ISS ascend in the northwest then sail south directly above the moon. By 9:33 PM, it neared Scorpius before abruptly vanishing. Due to the moonlight, I used a brief 3-minute exposure making for short star trails. The orange trail in the far left is from Antares, a red giant star that varies in brightness.

On Tuesday evening, I returned to More Mesa and observed the ISS ascending in the northwest below Ursa Major at 8:42 PM. It traversed south across the western sky, passing high above the 28% moon 1.5 minutes later. The brilliance of the Station continued to intensify as it flew over Scorpius three minutes later, before vanishing behind Earth’s shadow below Sagittarius at 8:47 PM. Although my lens couldn’t capture the entire arc, it was a truly wonderful sight with the unaided eye. In summary, I was privileged to experience six consecutive clear nights of ideal ISS viewing in late July here in Santa Barbara County.