See the Space Station Over Alaska This Week

In the few hours after sunset or before sunrise, on the nights its path crosses Alaska while the station is still in sunlight. NASA: “All International Space Station sightings will occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset.” The lists above show the next 7 days for Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, and the ZIP tool on the main page works for any address.

It never passes overhead here. NASA: “If a user’s preferred location is north or south of 51.6 degrees, the station will never go directly overhead, this includes places like Alaska.” Its highest is about 16 degrees from Anchorage, about 9 degrees from Fairbanks and about 26 degrees from Juneau, always above the southern horizon.

Hardly. Tiangong orbits 41.5 degrees to the equator, so from Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau it never climbs more than about 3 degrees above the horizon, below the 10 degree line the tool lists from.

No. Hubble orbits 28.5 degrees to the equator, so from Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau it never rises above the horizon.

Anywhere with an open view of the sky in the direction the pass begins; the space station is bright enough to see from a city. NASA: “The acre of solar panels that power the station means sometimes you can look up in the sky at dawn or dusk and see the spaceship flying over your home, even if you live in a big city.” For the fainter satellites, a darker sky helps: Denali National Park, Cleary Summit and Murphy Dome are among Alaska’s darker places.

The sky never gets dark enough. A pass needs the sun 6 degrees below the horizon, the end of civil twilight, and from about June 3 to July 9 over Anchorage and May 15 to July 29 over Fairbanks the sun never sinks that far. Heavens-Above notes the other side of it: “In summer however, especially at far northern or southern latitudes, even in the middle of the night the sun is never too far down, and satellites can be seen the whole night through.”

Because the station is only seen while it is sunlit against a dark sky. Heavens-Above: “Satellites are only visible when they are lit by the sun, but the observer on the ground is already in darkness. … In the middle of the night the sun is simply too far below the horizon to light them.” As the orbit shifts, the visible passes move between the evening and the morning sky, so a run of morning passes gives way to evening ones.