International Space Station to be visible in Sri Lanka

NASA’s International Space Station will be visible to the naked eye at 6:25 pm local time, above Sri Lanka today (22).

According to NASA, its International Space Station, is the third brightest object in the sky and easy to spot if you know when to look up.

Visible to the naked eye, it looks like a fast-moving plane only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster, NASA has said.

The sighting opportunity will begin at 6:25 pm local time and will be visible for a maximum time period of 5 minutes before crossing back below the horizon.

NASA said that the Max Height  (also known as elevation) will be 72°. It represents the height of the space station from the horizon in the night sky. The horizon is at zero degrees, and directly overhead is ninety degrees. 

The location in the sky where the station will be visible first has been declared as 29° above South West and will leave the field of view 10° above North by North East. This value, like maximum height, also is measured in degrees from the horizon. 

“The space station looks like an airplane or a very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesn’t have flashing lights or change direction. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical airplane (airplanes generally fly at about 600 miles (965 km) per hour; the space station flies at 17,500 miles (28,000 km) per hour).”