East Coast Flyover By IIS

Every now and again I check the heavens-above.com web site. If the orbit of IIS is just right, a bit before or after sunset the reflection of the sun on the IIS makes for a beautiful sight. The IIS appears to be a fast moving very bright star as it passes over. 


If the IIS passes over later at night or later in the day you can not see it since the sun is either blocked completely or the sun is in the sky and the light does not reflect down to the earth.

So what do the folks in the IIS see when they fly over the planet at night ... Below is the video of made from many still pictures as the IIS flew just off the east coast of the US. Here is the URL of the video on Vimeo.COM http://vimeo.com/36261727. Also here is a blog post from Bad Astronomy which gives a very nice commentary of the video.

 

Vol nocturne de la station spatiale internationale au-dessus de la côte Est de l'Amérique. from ASTROLab on Vimeo.