For a few days now, I ve noticed a very bright star at dawn or dusk. Might this be the International Space Station?
Chances are that your star is in fact a bright planet such as Venus or Jupiter. Consult Celestial Events on our website to find out which planets are visible at the moment. The space station, space shuttle and all the artificial satellites visible to the naked eye show obvious motion. In fact, they cross the sky in minutes. (Their movement is like a high-altitude airplane s, although without the blinking lights, navigation lights or engine noise.) You ll spot them especially in the early evening or at the end of the night when the sky in your area is fairly dark and the satellites, a few hundred kilometres high, are still lit by the Sun. Some websites predict the time that the major satellites pass overhead and the direction you can see them in from your specific location. See Artificial Satellites on our page Ephemerides and Astronomical Data.
