Watch Santa Claus this Christmas as the ISS flies by

If you want to create a magical moment on Christmas morning, we have a great idea. At this time of year, the International Space Station (ISS) is the perfect substitute for Santa’s sleigh as it flies overhead.

The ISS will fly over the UK twice on Christmas Day morning. If you are anywhere else in the world, you can use the Investigate and Find Observing Opportunities tool on the NASA website to find out when you can see it.

However, you need to get the time right, as it will only display a few minutes at a time. According to the NASA website, the station will fly over the UK in 5:38 am and 7:11 am on Christmas morning. Both times it will be before sunrise at 8:05 am, so you have a good chance of seeing a fast moving light in the sky. And it’s time for Santa to finish his supplies and head home to Lapland for breakfast.

We would not recommend promising anything to your children in case of disappointment. If it’s cloudy, you won’t be able to see it. The ISS is hard to see, but at night it is the third brightest object in the sky and looks like an airplane, although it flies much higher and faster. To give yourself the best chance of seeing it, the apps below will help you choose the best time to go outside.

To get the best accuracy, you need to use the ISS tracking app on your phone, as this will help you figure out where to look in the sky. The most obvious place to start is to download the NASA app for Apple or Android.

However, there are plenty of dedicated apps available, although some of them have ads or in-app purchases, so look out for those. We have found the following applications to be the most accurate and useful.

GoISSWatch

The GoISSWatch app for iOS is the best app for tracking the International Space Station on iPhone. It’s intuitive and easy to use, and uses your iPhone’s compass to help you know exactly which way to look to spot the ISS passing overhead.

In addition, GoISSWatch can notify you five minutes before each pass so you don’t miss it.

It is not available for Android.

ISS finder

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

An alternative – again for iOS – is the ISS Finder app.

We prefer the 3D illustration of the GoISSWatch app to help you figure out where to look in the sky – ISS Finder is less visible so it will take you a little longer to find it.

What’s great about ISS Finder is that it offers star ratings to help you determine which date and time gives you the best visibility of the ISS, at least when it comes to its position in the sky. There is also information about the crew aboard the ISS which is really interesting to read.

Satellite tracker ISS Detector

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Both of the apps above are iOS only, but we also found a great Android ISS tracker called ISS Detector Satellite Tracker. It shows you a countdown to the next ISS pass, which we found quite useful, and has a 3D tracking chart similar to that used by GoISSWatch, with an altitude sensor that works very well. You will also find that it offers weather forecasts so you will know if it will be visible or not.

You can also see a live feed from the ISS itself, which is incredible.

You can quickly and easily turn on notifications so you don’t miss the ISS. However, it has ads which can be annoying, but that means you get the app for free (as is the case with the other apps listed here).

Email alerts

If you’d rather not use your smartphone to track the ISS, NASA has a dedicated website that lets you sign up for email or text message alerts when the ISS is about to fly overhead, and offers some tips on how to spot it. in the sky.

NASA notes that the space station is the third brightest object in the sky, and initially looks like a fast-moving plane until you notice it has no flashing lights. On the other hand, at first it can be mistaken for a very bright star, until you notice how fast it is moving.

The ISS does pass over the UK every day. In fact, it makes 16 revolutions around the Earth each day, but some of these passes occur during daylight hours and others can be difficult to see depending on the ISS orbital layout. If you miss the ISS on Christmas morning, you can use the same tracking apps to watch it another day.

For more information, learn how to locate the International Space Station.