International Space Station Zooms Across Irish Skies

By Mark Dunphy - Fri Apr 22, 7:08 pm

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ISS. Image NASA

Space enthusiasts from Cork to Derry enjoyed a rare treat last night as clear skies favoured two separate opportunities to view the International Space Station (ISS) zooming across Irish skies.

The ISS is a research facility currently being assembled in space. The station is in a low Earth orbit and can be seen from earth with the naked eye: its altitude varies from 319.6 km to 346.9 km above the surface of the Earth (approximately 199 miles to 215 miles).

It travels at an average speed of 27,744 km (17,240 miles) per hour, completing 15.7 orbits per day.

ISS over Co Clare, 21 April 2011. Click to enlarge

The ISS is a joint project between the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Russia (RKA), Japan (JAXA), Canada (CSA) and several European countries (ESA).

According to David Moore, Editor of Astronomy Ireland’s magazine “Astronomy & Space”: “The I.S.S. crosses the sky each night for only one or two minutes and can be seen by anyone with ordinary eyesight as a star-like object, high overhead. It’s an amazing sight.”

“The Station can be up to 100 times brighter than even the brightest stars in the sky, so it is a wonderful sight to the naked eye. ISS is also the most expensive object every built by mankind. If the Shuttle fleet had completed it in a couple of years time it would have cost an estimated 100 billion dollars! So this is a unique object to go out and watch each evening.”, he added.

Keep track of the International Space Station’s path in real-time.

Iss over Monasterboice, Co Louth in March 2011. Image Shane Murphy( website)

ISS over Monasterboice. Pic Shane Murphy

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