NASA offers holiday treat

Ready for a break in the holiday routine? Here’s an idea to get you (and any nearby over-sugared children) out of the house.

The International Space Station is one of the more reliable attractions in the night sky — a slow-moving, brilliant point of light — and we’re going through a multi-day cycle of good visibility.

link Betty Williamson

This football-field sized structure that houses three astronauts circles the globe every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 220 miles. NASA maintains a user-friendly website with pinpoint information to help us earth-bound viewers know exactly when and where to look.

Tonight, if the skies are clear, the ISS will make two passes visible from eastern New Mexico. The first begins at 5:18 p.m. (cell phone time is spot on) and lasts for four minutes; the second is a two-minute pass that starts at 6:54 p.m.

There will be a five-minute pass at 6:03 p.m. Friday, and double passes again on Saturday, the first at 5:12 p.m., and the second at 6:51 p.m. Sunday promises a five-minute pass beginning at 5:58 p.m.

Use your new laptop or smart phone to look up “human space flight,” or “spot the station.”

A detailed chart allows you to plug in locations all over the world for local viewing opportunities. Tonight’s first pass, for example, will appear for us at 11 degrees above north, and disappear at 10 degrees above east-northeast. Your fist, extended at arm’s length, is about 10 degrees.

Stay out long enough to get cold. When you come back in, the hot chocolate will taste twice as good.

Betty Williamson loves marveling at the universe with her feet planted firmly on earth. You may reach her at:

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