See the Space Station Over North Dakota This Week

In the few hours after sunset or before sunrise, on the nights its path crosses North Dakota 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 Fargo, Bismarck and Minot, and the ZIP tool on the main page works for any address.

It can pass straight overhead anywhere in North Dakota: its orbit reaches 51.6 degrees north, and the whole state lies south of that. Most nights it crosses lower, and each pass in the list gives its highest point in degrees, and in NASA’s words, “The horizon is at zero degrees, and directly overhead is 90 degrees.”

Yes, in the southern sky. Tiangong orbits 41.5 degrees to the equator, so its highest is about 30 degrees from Fargo, about 31 degrees from Bismarck and about 24 degrees from Minot. The tool lists its passes alongside the station’s.

Not well. Hubble orbits 28.5 degrees to the equator, about 300 miles up, so from Fargo, Bismarck and Minot it never climbs above about 2 to 4 degrees, under the 10 degree line the tool lists from.

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: Icelandic State Park, Lake Metigoshe State Park and Pembina Gorge State Recreation Area are among North Dakota’s darker places.

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.