The evening sky

It is to be hoped that we will get a clear evening over the Sea of Abaco this week, for the International Space Station will be visible from the Sea of Abaco every night from February 4 through 7. It is a very bright object that moves rapidly across the twilight sky and is easily seen with the naked eye.

Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday will be very impressive displays. Friday it will be less bright.

It will be visible as follows:

Wednesday the 4^th for 2.5 minutes at magnitude -0.9 (minus 0.9)

Thursday the 5^th for almost 3 minutes at magnitude -1.9 (brighter than Sirius)

Friday the 6^th for 1 minute at magnitude 1.3 (not very bright)

Saturday the 7^th for 3 minutes at magnitude -1.1 (very bright)

Lower magnitude numbers are brighter, so the brightest display will be on February 5, when the ISS is magnitude -1.9. By comparison, Sirius is -1.4 and Venus is about -4

Here are the times, elevations and direction of the flight path:

Date	Mag	Starts			Max. altitude			Ends
		Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.
4 Feb	-0.9	06:23:37 PM	10	N	06:26:01 PM	22	NE	06:28:21 PM	10	E
5 Feb	-1.9	06:50:52 PM	10	NW	06:53:50 PM	65	SW	06:56:46 PM	10	SSE
6 Feb	1.3	07:20:15 PM	10	WSW	07:21:22 PM	12	SW	07:22:29 PM	10	SSW
7 Feb	-1.1	06:11:02 PM	10	NW	06:13:55 PM	47	SW	06:16:47 PM	10	SSE

So, for example, on February 4, the ISS will appear 10 degrees above the Northern horizon at 18:23:37. It will travel from N to NE and disappear 22 degrees above the NE horizon at 18:28:21.

The ISS will next be visible February 14 – 18. For further information, go to heavens-above.com

Mark Anderson

S/V Seabbatical