We have an excellent opportunity to see the International Space Station (ISS) fly over again this evening! The ISS will fly over at about 7:58 and will be visible for six minutes. It will appear at about 10 degrees above the northwest horizon and set about 17 degrees above the southeast horizon. That means that the ISS will be flying almost directly overhead!
What a perfect evening to step outside for a look! Remember, it looks like a bright star gliding across the sky. It does not blink. The ISS is the third brightest object in the sky due to the sun reflecting off the station’s solar panels. We can’t see the ISS fly over unless the sun is hitting the panels just right. That’s why we can only see it during evenings and mornings.
Pictured below is the current crew onboard the ISS.
In other news….
Today is a historic day in meteorology. It is the anniversary of one of the worst tornadoes to ever strike Mississippi. On this day in 1935, a catastrophic F-5 tornado plowed across northern Tupelo, leaving behind an astonishing 48 city blocks of total destruction. Some homes were so swept clean away it was hard to imagine a home had ever been there. The twister killed at least 233 people. The death toll was likely much higher, but due to racial inequalities African Americans we not included in the tallies, in spite of some African American neighborhoods being especially hard hit. This remains the fourth deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
What some of you might find interesting is that Elvis was only 15 months old at this time in Tupelo. Thankfully for the music world, his house was spared (barely!) the wrath of this violent and very deadly twister.
Interestingly, this same storm system produced more violent twisters the next day in Georgia, killing another 203 people.
Sometimes our skies give us frightening things, like tornadoes. Sometimes our skies give us inspiring things, like the ISS. Tonight, we’ll enjoy the ISS flyover!