NASA Will Send Alerts to Spot Space Station

A new service was proposed by NASA in order to mark the 12^th anniversary of crews living and working abroad the International Space Station. The service helps people observe the orbiting laboratory when it passes overhead.

"Spot the Station" will send an email or text message to those who sign up for the service a few hours before they will be able to see the space station.

"It's really remarkable to see the space station fly overhead and to realize humans built an orbital complex that can be spotted from Earth by almost anyone looking up at just the right moment," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said in a statement.

Whether it is dawn or dusk, when the space station is visible it is the brightest object other than the moon.  Whereas it appears as a fast moving point of light on a clear night, that is similar in size and brightness of the planet Venus.

By availing the facility of the "Spot the Station", the users can receive alerts about morning, evening or both types of sightings.

"Spot the Station" service is available worldwide, the agency said, adding the station's trajectory carries it over more than 90 percent of the Earth's population.

You can sign up for the service by visiting https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ .

You can make a choice of selecting morning or evening sightings while signing up for the alert, and then you would be briefed about the detail time the ISS will be visible through email. Apart from time you would be provided information on direction it will first appear and the duration f the stay in your part of night sky.

Spot the Station will analyze the station's proximity in more than 4,600 positions on the Earth and update its information number of times per week.