Aww Crap!

It looks like Wired Science let me down this week.

The blog reported on an International Space Station flyby that has been taking place this week. This is a relatively rare event in which the ISS is not eclipsed by the planet as it makes its way overhead. I remember getting a good look at one of the recent ISS flybys a few years back, and it was pretty wild. During the flyby, the ISS is the brightest object in the night sky except for the moon. And it behaves unlike any other heavenly body. It moves startlingly fast, rising above the horizon and then setting at the opposite horizon, all within a matter of a few minutes.

The problem? Wired reported on the flyby on the afternoon of the last day that the ISS would be visible. And since I didn't see the post until this morning, I totally missed it! According to Spaceweather's satellite flyby database for my zip code (65203), the ISS was visible on the evenings of Monday April 18 and Tuesday April 19, with a magnitude of 'very bright.'

Oh well. I'll just have to do a better job of keeping up to date with Spaceweather. Hopefully the next time this happens, I'll be on top of it. And maybe we can have a big ISS flyby watch party. That would be awesome.