Have you every thought about watching an Artificial satellite with your naked eye, we are not speaking about the time before it crashes onto earth ;). Do you want to see one? Well there is a way to do so if you have an Android Phone.
When the ISS is closest to the earth its magnificent solar panels fully lit by sunlight are completely visible and it appears as a bright star, steadily moving across the sky. When fully lit, the International Space Station is the 2nd brightest object in the night sky brighter than even Planet likes Jupiter and Venus, other times it as bright as an average star.
Some information about the International Space Station
The ISS makes 18 revolutions around the planet in 24 hours passing over any place on earth at least once each day. There are several online resources that lets you calculate in advance the exact time when the International Space Station is visible in the sky of the observer, one of them is NASA’s Sky Watch.
If you want to know some more facts about the International Space Station you can click here
Here are some Ametuer clicks of the ISS Sightings
So are you excited to watch the International Space Station with your naked eye, here’s presenting ISSDetector for Android
ISSDetector is an easy to use automatic personal ISS tracker and satellite tracker. With a build in system for notifications and alarms. You will never miss a pass of the International Space Station and you will never miss the bright flashes of the iridium communication satellites. An unique part if ISS Detector is the weather forecast. A clear sky is perfect for spotting, you now know when and where to look.
ISS Detector combines data from Nasa, Heavens-above.com and weather from yr.no.
After ISSDetector finds your location via the GPS, it will download tracking data from NASA and Heavens-above.com and display a list of dates and the time when the ISS is visible. You can click any of the item,it will displays details about each pass including start and end time of the event, start elevation, end elevation and maximum elevation, magnitude of the space station, as well as a radar screen indicating the direction of the path.
A great feature of the app is that it retains the downloaded information on the phone, so that the next time you open the ISSDetector you don’t need to be connected to the Internet, unless you are at a different location. If you are, you can easily download that location’s data by touching the refresh button.
Oh and One more thing, just in case you have too much on your mind as I do, you can even set a reminder/notification for when the next sighting happens, all you have to do is click the Bell icon and Voila!!
If you are a Space Junkie like me, you would definitely love this App.
Fire up your Barcode Scanner and Scan this QR code directly from your Android to download the App
The DNetWorks TeamÂ