Written 2 years ago
by Andreas
| |||
| Science | an hour | ||
| 6-16 years | outdoor | ||
| easy | everyday objects | ||
| ISS, stars, night, satellite, flyby, International Space Station, space | |||
This is a great "project" for a nice summer weekend. Take out the kids for a night walk and watch the International Space Station fly by. The ISS can easily be spotted with the naked eye in many countries around the world (at least at the time of writing this, which is July '08). So all you need is a clear night.
Ah, yes, you also need the exact time and the direction where to look at. No problem, just go to spaceweather.com, enter your location, et voilá! Spaceweather also gives you the data on other visible satellites, so if you choose a good day, you can even spot several "flybys".
I just came back from an "ISS night walk" with my son, he was really fascinated. We missed the Early Ammonia Servicer, but we spotted the ISS. It was about as bright as the brightest stars. And we even saw a falling star.
What you should take with you:
For even more satellite data see http://www.calsky.com/
They say that they track 10.000 objects, so there should be something to see for every night. But the site is a bit hard to navigate.
I haven't tried it but it sounds intresting! And misterious