by Chris Considine
for Altadenablog

For all those that enjoyed Bill Westphal's great shot of the International Space Station soaring across the Altadena skies on Wednesday night, there is another chance this evening to watch.

The ISS will be coming from the Northwest again, Southward along the West coast at 8:20 tonight…Since it's a scorcher here in the foothills, many of us will be looking for an excuse to get into the night air. This will certainly provide some entertainment and distraction from the high heat that started already this early morning. Enjoy the view!

 

Here is the SKY view looking up (remember to pretend to 'hold' the planet guide above your head for proper orientation).

 

 

And this map shows the Earthtrak view of the ISS trajectory for tonight.

 

 

Many people are still shocked when I tell them to look up and view the ISS hurtling across the sky. Almost everyone is unaware that the ISS is VERY visible to us, and is in fact almost as bright as the brightest planet, Venus when it comes over during the evening. The sun is shining on it when it is up so far into near space, and it's full size (since being completed) makes for a fast moving, bright object that is easy to watch and show the family.

 

Now on another note, and one not so entertaining, there is a new 'partner' in the sky from our military. I for one am not a big fan of the militarization of space, but it's happening and we will be able to 'see' evidence of this tonight. The X-37B is now in orbit and has been spotted by us groundlings. And tonight you might get a glimpse of it. It's top secret and a bit scary in my opinion.

 

It is smaller than our real shuttle, and is fairly dim compared to anything like the ISS…however…it will be visible tonight as well…how visible, we'll have to see. It should look similar to most of the satelites passing over us.

 

and this is the ground track…