ISS to whiz past Saturn on Thursday, visible from Singapore
SINGAPORE — American astronaut Tim Kopra was aboard the International Space Station (ISS) last week when he took a breathtaking photo showing a night-time view of Singapore. Now, Singaporeans will have a chance to take a photo of the ISS as it flies across our skies on Thursday (March 31) morning.
The ISS will appear as a fast-moving white dot, nearly as bright as Venus, moving from north-west to south-east, as it flys past Saturn between 6.24am to 6.30am.
While ISS fly-bys are not rare, it is a special sight to see it whizz past a planet, said Mr Gary Chee, the co-founder of local astronomy group Singapore Sidewalk Astronomy.
To see the brief encounter, simply look up at the sky on Thursday morning. “As both Saturn and the ISS will be high in the sky, people can see it from anywhere that offers an unobstructed view of the sky,” said Mr Chee, adding that the ISS will be bright enough to photograph with a mobile phone camera.
To locate Saturn, he advised people to use the moon as a reference point. The gas giant will appear as a bright yellow dot to the right of the moon.
The ISS orbits close to 420km above the Earth’s surface. It completes each orbit in 90 minutes, flying at a speed of 28,000km/h.
A TRIANGLE IN THE SKY
The ISS fly-by is one of two celestial shows that will take place this week.
On Tuesday, the moon, Mars and Saturn will meet in the night sky to form a distinctive triangle from 11.55pm. This will be visible for the rest of the night. The moon, which will be in its waning gibbous phase, will be the lowest — and brightest — of the three objects. To its right, Saturn will be visible as a bright yellow dot. Mars will be seen as an even brighter red dot above Saturn.
As the planets will be relatively bright, there is no need for a telescope to see them, said Mr Chee. Those with access to either a telescope or binoculars can point them at Saturn to catch a glimpse of the planet’s famous ring system.
Earlier this year, Singaporeans had the opportunity to view a rare astronomical alignment with five planets — Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury — appearing together in the skies for the first time in a decade. The ISS also made an appearance in our skies along with Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury on Jan 30.
