Look skyward to see Space Station

We love to share details about fun things you can do for free in the Smokies.

We’re coming up on another stretch of nights (and some mornings) when visitors and residents need only turn their eyes to the skies to watch the International Space Station pass over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The space station can often be seen flying over, if the orbit times up with dark sky moments. It is the third brightest object in the sky and easy to spot if you know when to look up.

Tonight you can see it at 10:28 p.m. for six minutes, if skies are clear. It looks like a fast-moving plane, only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster. Tonight it will appear 11 degrees above southwest, and disappear at 10 degrees above northeast.

Later tonight it will also be visible for another four minutes, beginning just six minutes after past midnight, starting 11degrees above WNW and disappearing 10 degrees above north.

On clear nights the space station is visible because it reflects the light of the sun. You can expect from one sighting opportunity a month to several a week, since it has to be both dark where you are, and the space station has to be going overhead in the light of the sun.

You can see the space station numerous times in the coming days in the southern Appalachian region. Check the NASA website to learn more: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/index.cfm