The international space station will be bright over Boise on Saturday. Here’s how to spot it
On Saturday morning, Idahoans who are early risers will have an unusually clear view of the International Space Station as it passes overhead.
For seven minutes, starting at 6:47 a.m., Treasure Valley residents will be able to see the ISS fly overhead with the naked eye.
The station will come into view from the southwest and move toward the east-northeast. If you’re in downtown Boise, that means the station will fly overhead coming from Kuna and appear to fly toward the Boise Airport before heading over the Boise National Forest.
You can identify the space station by searching for what appears to be a star moving very quickly through the sky. The space station travels at 5 miles per second, meaning even at its height of approximately 227 nautical miles above Earth, it appears to travel across the sky much faster than commercial airplanes that fly at just six miles high.
How to find the ISS in the sky
The ISS regularly passes over Idaho, but this weekend’s fly over is more notable than others.
First and foremost, mostly clear skies are expected in the area according to Idaho News 6 chief meteorologist Scott Dorval, allowing for clear viewing. The ISS is very similar to the moon in that it’s visible because it reflects light from the sun, but unlike the moon, it is too small to be visible during the daytime when the sun is above the horizon.
Therefore it’s only visible either at dusk or dawn, when it’s dark down on Earth but above the surface of the earth the station is still reflecting light from the sun. This window is usually about 45 to 60 minutes after sunset or before sunrise.
The space station will reach a maximum height of 52 degrees in the sky, which means if you were to look toward the night sky on a flat plain, the space station will appear closer to being right above you than to the horizon. The highest point the ISS — or any celestial body or object in the sky — can reach is 90 degrees, which would be directly overhead.
Oftentimes the space station is technically visible from Boise but a low maximum height makes it tough to view beyond buildings and surrounding mountains. For example, the space station will also be in the Boise early morning sky on Friday morning, but maximum heights of 20 and 12 degrees, respectively, will make it tough to see.
The ISS will also be visible for seven minutes, which is on the longer side of its typical viewing window of two to six minutes. NASA’s live tracker and alerts can help you identify when the space station will be passing overhead.
Saturday certainly won’t be the last time the ISS will be visible from the Treasure Valley, but time is running out. NASA announced plans last year to retire the space station in 2030 and crash it down to earth by 2031, ending a continuous orbit around the Earth that will have lasted more than three decades by the time it lands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It will crash at a location called Point Nemo, which is the farthest point from any land on Earth.
You can view a list of when the ISS will be viewable from Boise on NASA’s “Spot the Station” website and sign up for alerts when it’s passing over. You can also learn more about the information that NASA provides in its alerts and other frequently asked questions on the Spot the Station website.
