[Balding_Eagle]

Interested? Then you need to know when and where to crane your neck. Three Web sites can calculate upcoming viewing opportunities in your area, just type in your zip code or city. The sites work for readers in other parts of the world as well.

They are Chris Peat's Heavens Above, Science@NASA's J-Pass and NASA's SkyWatch. The first one provides customized sky charts based on your location.

Their predictions are generally accurate to within minutes, but one should double-check closer to actual viewing times for last-minute updates.

That is because the station can go slightly up or down in its orbital path, depending on the natural decay of its orbit or periodic boosts to higher altitudes.

Why does the station vary in brightness? It depends on how much sunlight bounces off of it. The light-colored ship can reflect back up to 90 percent of the light that strikes it, according to NASA.

[2Trievers]

Thanks BE ... SUPER! &;-)

[virgil]

Thanks for the links. Very useful

[RightWhale]

We have never seen the ISS nor the Space Shuttle from here. Satellite dishes are aimed almost horizontal to the ground so the signal barely clears the city dump and the Alaska Range. It was kind of funny when a vendor set up a DirectTV kiosk at the local department store a few years ago. GPS works, though. If you want to download from polar satellites, this is the place, but otherwise we are relying on credible witnesses that there is a space program.