Satellites

If you were in Lubbock, or any portion of Texas, then you might have seen something in the night sky Sunday, July 23.

The International Space Station will be bright and visible for a short time, appearing on the southern horizon, climbing up toward the southeast, but will only be visible for about 90 seconds. The interesting aspect to tonight's ISS pass is that you will get to watch the ISS disappear into Earth's shadow. The ISS will appear a few seconds after 6:58 p.m. and disappear just before 7:01.

The ISS orbits at an altitude of about 200 - 270 miles above the earth, at a speed of over 17,000 mph. The (relatively) low altitude orbit requires sighting opportunities of the Station to be fairly close to sunset or sunrise time to be visible, though the sky can still be completely dark. It's common to see the ISS literally disappear as you watch it. This occurs when it travels into the shadow of the earth.