Autumn Observing

I think autumn is my favorite season.  The weather cools off just enough so that you don't have to sweat outside.  The air temp is just right so that you can shut off the AC and open all the windows in the house, and the leaves on the trees begin to turn beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow.  But the nights; the nights get a chill in the air, the humidity lifts, the sun sets earlier and the sky gets darker as the sun dips ever further beyond the horizon. 
It seems the entire past week has been nothing but clouds and rain, so it goes without saying that there's pretty much been no observing.  The exception would be just a few minutes of observing some variable stars for reporting to the AAVSO.  If you have clear skies, take advantage and get out there.  Jupiter is up over the horizon around 7:30 PM  nowadays, so no excuses; and be sure to see Uranus nearby.  You'll at least need binoculars to see Uranus.  With an 8" mirror you can easily resolve the blue planet - pretty cool (I've seen all 8 of our planets in the scope this year).  Don't forget to look for Comet Hartley 2 while you're out there.

With Cassiopeia high in the sky after dark, this season is a good one to see such objects as the Double Cluster in Casseiopsia (a naked eye object if your skies are dark enough) and the Andromeda Galaxy (also a naked eye object, how cool!).  Check out Cygnus, in which you can find open clusters M29 and M39. The Milky Way is also right overhead after dark, and once you let your eyes dark adapt, lay down and just stare upward, it's such an amazing sight - you'll probably spot a few meteors while you're at it. 
Speaking of meteors, late in October we'll have the Orionids meteor shower (as well as the Hunter's Moon); not as spectacular as the Perseids, but we had clouds on the Perseids maximum night, so I'm really looking forward to this next shower.  I'll post more details about this shower at a later date.
Enjoy these Autumn nights (hopefully without the rain).

Comet Hartley 2 Returns

If you missed Comet McNaught this year, you'll have another chance (and a better one at that) to see a comet as Hartley 2 will come within 11 million miles of Earth on October 20.  This comet was discovered by Malcolm Hartley in 1986 and has an orbital period of 6.46 years.  Hartley 2 should be viewable by unaided eye in most moderately dark locations, estimated to reach around magnitude 5.  This should be an easy find in binoculars.  Tonight the comet is just above M31 in Andromeda, and will move northward below alpha Cassiopei by October 1.  Go out and find it!

Path of Comet Hartley 2 through late October (Sky and Telescope)

A Moment with the Universe

I felt compelled to share this. 

It was 10:10 PM last night.  I had decided to take a break from the computer and walked upstairs to grab myself a drink. Entering the dark kitchen, I noticed the pale blue moonlight pouring across the floor, gently bathing the room in a soft lunar glow - I smiled and approached the window and tilted my head upward. I gazed in wonder as my eyes settled upon Jove and Luna, which hung so majestically between a gap in the treeline. In that very moment, a meteor streaked eastward, passing between the two. It was magical.

Moments like these are my reward for looking toward the night sky.  They allow me a unique glimpse of the universe; to feel connected to it (as we so often don't in our modern lives), and to feel humbled.

Moon Report 8/19

Tonight's forecast finally called for a cloud free sky, and I couldn't wait to get out and sight up the moon.  The humidity was a little higher than ideal; 75%.  The view was a tad hazy, and a faint glow could be seen around the moon, but the air was pretty still.  I started setting up about 8:30; no reason to wait until complete darkness to view the moon.
It wasn't but a few minutes until I heard the buzzing of mosquitoes - talk about a party crasher.  I went out without bug repellent and didn't set up any fans; I wasn't planning on staying out long anyway.  I did, however, get some satisfying scope time identifying some of the major features using the map at InOMN.  Copernicus and Tycho looked great, and the Apennine Mountain range was a real pleasure.  I didn't last for more than 10 minutes, the mosquitoes were too much to deal with (btw, Burt's Bees Outdoor Bug Bite Relief works great).  I did manage to snap a few photos of Luna before heading in.  29 days until InOMN!

International Observe the Moon Night

You know what celestial object I think often gets overlooked [at least in my circle of friends]?  The Moon.  However, I think that's going to change.  On June 18, 2009 NASA launched the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter).  LRO and LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) are the first missions in NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and begin establishing a lunar outpost by 2020.  To celebrate this achievement, we have the International Observe the Moon Night, which will be held on September 18, 2010.  The mission of this event is to educate the general public, amateur astronomers and general space science enthusiasts in NASA's involvement in lunar research and exploration.  So what do they want us to do?  Share!  Learn!   The moon is the closest celestial object to us - it's right next door, and we still have to much yet to learn from it.
So about observing the moon - you don't need a telescope.  Binoculars would be great, and even if you only have your naked eye, there is still much beauty to see.  It's one thing just just stare at the moon, but much more fun to get intimate with it.  Go to the InOMN site and get yourself a copy of this moon map, and see if you can identify these major lunar landmarks.  Identifying these parts of our moon will not only make the object seem less alien to you, but hopefully spark an interest in space exploration.  Have fun!

Perseids Under Way

Naturally we have cloudy weather for the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.  I'm pretty bummed about it.

Edit: 8/13 - The clouds cleared for about 45 minutes, enough to catch 6 meteors, 3 of which were probably mag -1 to my eyes.  Also, very clear and black skies with low humidity revealed the Milky Way to the best I've ever seen it from my yard - a great view to end my night.


As sort of a consolation, I found this live stream from NASA.  You can watch and listen to the meteors as they pass.

Perseid Meteor Streaks Over Lake Erie 

Perseids over Chickamauga, GA

 Image credit NASA

Tears of St. Lawrence

Folks, the annual Perseid meteor shower is upon us.  This is a major shower, and can be considered the best shower of the year.  The peak nights will be August 12/13th, and this year will be especially nice as the waxing crescent moon will set early in the evening.  It's typical for this shower to reach a zenithal hourly rate of 60+.


The Perseid meteor shower is associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, and is so named because the radiant lies within the constellation Perseus.  This shower has been observed annually for about 2000 years. The Catholics named the shower the Tears of St. Lawrence, since the date of his martyrdom is August 10.  The average ZHR will probably be about 1 per hour for now, but as we near August 10 the ZHR could reach 15.


OK, so here's where to look, and how to look:
Perseus rises in the NW.  This time of year it should be well above the horizon around 1:00 AM (for mid-northern latitudes).  Did I say 1:00 AM?  Yeah, it's best viewing meteor showers between 1:00 and 4:00 AM.  Does that mean you can't see meteors before 1:00 AM?  Sure, you can - it's just ideal to observe in the wee hours of the morning.  Prepare for a meteor shower as you might for a night of fireworks.  I like to lay out a blanket, but a lawn chair would be nice.  Use bug repellent unless you want to have mosquitoes ruining the fun.  If you can manage, I think it's a good idea to grab a fan and turn it on you - the bugs will have a hard time getting to you that way.   As always, keep away from any direct source of light - meteors can be bright, but you still want to preserve your night vision for the fainter ones.  I should add that you don't have to look at Perseus to see the meteors - they will be all over the sky - just radiating from Perseus.  Look 20-40 degrees away from the radiant.  Have fun!

Happy Summer

Today, June 21, is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere - when the earth's axial tilt is most inclined toward the sun - and marks the official start of summer (in some cultures it marks the middle).  Although the most hours of sunlight are experienced this day, the latest sunset is actually around the end of the month.  


The night hours are not as dark as they are in the winter.  This is because the sun doesn't set as far below the horizon while the northern hemisphere is tilted towards it (see the image below).  Instead of nice black skies at night, they are pretty much grey in my area.

Despite this, there are still plenty of great things about summer observing; warm weather, summer constellations such as Sagittarius - at the heart of the Milky Way, where many beautiful nebulae and clusters can be seen; the Sagittarius star cloud, the Lagoon Nebula, Trifid Nebula, Omega Nebula, and the M22 cluster.  There are noteworthy meteor showers (a post about which is soon to follow), Jupiter rises earlier each night, around 1:30 AM by the end of the week, and along with him, Uranus. 


There will also be a partial lunar eclipse on June 26th for the western US and pacific region out to Australia, which should start around 4:20 AM.


Happy summer!




























image source

Skunked

I have done little observing the past two weeks, and it's not because of the weather.  My problem is with the local skunk.  I'm sure it sounds silly, even I think so.  The first time I saw him he came around the side of the house, and swaggered into my neighbors yard, and eventually made a U turn back to my yard.  He was there again when I woke up in the wee hours to view comet McNaught, forcing me back into the house.  Last Friday I had set up a little more equipment then usual, hoping to spend more than 2 hours observing - but guess who crashed the party?  Yes, within 30 minutes the mephitidae snuck up behind me.  No regular flashlight spooked him before, so I had with me a larger and brighter light which sent him scurrying away.  But even if he does scurry away, I just can't relax. Time to educate myself about Mr. Skunk.

A brief lesson on the Skunk, and why he wants to be my neighbor.

 The striped skunk is a solitary, omnivorous, nocturnal animal, with powerful claws (for digging) and the ability to accurately spray an offensive liquid up to 16' as a defensive mechanism (hence why they fearlessly walk around in the open).  Their diet includes, but is not limited to,  insects, grubs, berries and fungi.  Their vision is relatively poor, only being able to see approximately 10 feet (perhaps another reason why he get's so close to me).

This information alone is enough to understand why the skunk keeps visiting me.  On the border of my yard stands a Red Mulberry tree.  Obviously Mr. Skunk is feasting nightly on these berries, as is evident by the seed filled droppings I've been finding around my yard - pretty rude if you ask me.  But I can't possibly get rid of the berries, there are far too many on the ground to pick up.  I really don't think there's much I can do about this except remain vigilant while outside.

Bootids Meteor Shower

Has the recent flyby of McNaught got you in the mood for observing other comets and meteors?  It's had that effect on me.  We can look forward to welcoming summer with the June Bootids meteor shower from around (the dates for this shower vary slightly) June 22 to July 1, peaking Sunday, June 27.  This annual shower isn't exactly known for extravagant displays, but rather for its inconsistency.  The normal hourly rate is probably less than 5 for most years, but in 1998 the ZHR was up to 100!  Some predictions say there's another chance for such an outburst this year.  The moon will be full at the end of the month, but either way, I say "what the heck".  Relax, pull up a lawn chair and grab those binoculars!  You never know what you'll see unless you get out there.

Where to look

Sources: 
meteorshowersonline
spaceweather.com

Search For McNaught Part 2

I awoke at 4:20 AM and peeked out the window - no clouds!  The moon, however was within my FOV this time (in a few days it will be behind trees low in the east), but I grabbed my binoculars anyway.  I didn't bother stepping outside for I figured that skunk would be lurking around the corner.   By 4:30 I knew it was getting late to be able to see the comet.  The sun was just under the horizon, and the moon wasn't helping.  But nonetheless, I did manage to see it, just near Almaak.  It appeared as a blue/green fuzzy dot with a faint and short tail.  I tried moving upstairs for a better view, but it was already too late - it was getting too bright.

I really want to check McNaught out in my scope.  Before 4 AM is going to be the best time to see it for sure.  By June 12 the moon won't be hanging around at this time, and the comet will actually be a little higher in the sky.  Plus, that's a Saturday!  No problem stargazing in the wee hours of the morning on a weekend.  I hope to get a much better view then.  For now though, I'm glad I saw it.

Search For McNaught Part 1

It happened that when I rolled over to look at the clock this morning, it was 4:00 AM.  I nearly fell back asleep when I recalled that Comet McNaught was in the sky.  I grabbed my binoculars and crept downstairs.  As I was stepping out onto the deck, I spied something at the end of the house. One quick look through the binoculars revealed a snooping skunk.  I decided I'd stand behind the glass door and look for McNaught from there. 

The first thing I noticed as I gazed up was that the sky was quite cloudy - at least ENE.  I glanced at the moon, and then noticed Jupiter sitting just to the right.  A consolation prize perhaps to steal a view of Jupiter.  Through my binoculars I could make out very faint banding, and a single moon (not sure which moon).  After Jupiter, I noticed I could then see Cassiopeia.  Great! But I still couldn't make out Andromeda.  No matter, the clouds were moving away.  I spotted M31, the last time I saw the Andromeda Galaxy was in mid January. 

The clouds never did fully break away, but most of Andromeda was visible. I look around for McNaught until the sun chased the stars away, but never caught a glimpse of it.  The clouds made it difficult anyway, but after returning to my map just before bed, I realized I wasn't looking around the right star.  Turns out I was looking at Mirach, not Almaak - oops.  Perhaps tomorrow morning - before work even.  Stay tuned for Part 2, lol.

Comet McNaught

It's not very often we amateurs have an opportunity  to catch a glimpse of a passing comet.  However, we have one now.  Comet McNaught, discovered September 2009, is any icy ball of debris, probably originating from the Oort Cloud.  The comet appears to be in an open hyperbolic orbit, which means this is its first and probably last visit to the inner solar system.

The comet is expected to be fairly dim, though you will be able to see it in a small telescope or decent pair of binoculars.  Brightness is difficult to predict for comets.  There always a chance it will get brighter, perhaps bright enough to see with the naked eye in a dark sky.

 

Here's how to find it:

Around 4 AM, look ENE about 20° below Cassiopeia.  There are a line of stars pointing to the northern horizon starting with Mirach and Almaak (in Andromeda), Mirphak (in Perseus), and Capella (in Auriga).  The comet follows a path along these stars.

From June 1-7, it flies between Mirach and Almaak.  From June 13-15, just below Mirphak: this is likely the best time to see it, since the moon won’t be around to wash out the sky.  In binoculars or a small telescope, the comet will look fuzzy and with a faint and small tail.

It will get brighter as it moves closer to the Sun near the end of the month.  After June 15, it appears to sink about one degree lower in the sky each day and approaches Capella near sunrise.  At the end of June, the comet will swing behind the sun, then reappear in the southern sky briefly before it fades from view.

Leave a comment if you've had an chance to see this visitor!

Amateur Documents Impact on Jupiter

Anthony Wesley, the amateur astronomer who imaged the 2009 impact on Jupiter has done it again.  This time capturing video of the impact.

The impact site reaches the bright limb of Jupiter at around 06/04 02:52 UTC. It crosses the central meridian around 05:15 UTC and reaches the evening terminator around 07:22 UTC.

Read more here.
See the video here.

Iridium Flares for June 2, 2010

I thought I'd post information for local iridium flares.  These flares are the phenomenon caused by the satellites reflecting sunlight towards the Earth, and appear as a bright "flare".  They're just one more neat object you can see as you look up at night. 

Tonight, June 2nd, at 8:58:26 PM the Iridium 18 satellite will appear be about magnitude -2 with the flare brightening to approx -8.  Location should be about 67° Alt 77° Az (ENE).

What do those coordinates mean?  Well, Alt means altitude, or vertical.  Your fist at arms length is about 10°, so from the horizon, about 6.5 fists will get you to around 67°.  Az is Azimuth, or horizontal.  This is the direction you'll face.  North is 0°.  East is 90°.  77° will be ENE above Pegasus.

Planetary Objects In June

I'm pretty excited about June.  7 of our planets will be visible, and I plan on catching them all.  There are only 2 that I haven't seen yet, Uranus and Neptune.

• Mercury will be best viewed during twilight before sunrise on June 10th.
• Venus, the Evening Star will continue to shine brightly in the evening after sunset.  At magnitude -4 it will be the first object to appear after sunset.  Look up and be dazzled.
• Mars was at opposition on January 29 this year, but it's still around for you to see.  The planet will appear as a red star to the naked eye, or red disc in a scope.  Look for it in the constellation Leo.
• Both Jupiter and Uranus can be seen near each other this month.  They will rise in the early AM to start, but as the month progresses will rise earlier.  Look for them in Pisces to the East.
• Saturn will stay well in view as she sits in Virgo to the SW, but if you don't catch the planet this month, you'll probably have to wait until November.
• Neptune will rise ahead of Jupiter and Uranus in Aquarius around midnight mid-month.

Hello, Saturn.

I hope you all had a nice holiday weekend. The weather was beautiful in the northeast. I had an opportunity to do some viewing with my brother on Sunday night. The sky was quite clear, and the warm evening air was quite pleasant.

I love being able to share the night sky with others, and my brother and I had been waiting for a suitable evening for several weeks now. I was also excited to finally have a chance to use my new Siebert Barlow and Nikon binoculars.

I set my equipment out about 30 minutes before my brother arrived, and was forced to drape the grill cover over the railings on our deck to shield us from my neighbors incredibly intrusive street lamp. I also ran extension cords out to the yard to keep a large fan on us - warm weather astronomy is great, but mosquitoes aren't.

So, the trouble with showing DSO's to inexperienced stargazers is finding objects that won't disappoint. Basically, a faint fuzzy galaxy that appears as a grey smudge might be thrilling for me to look at, but I'm sure it would be rather anti-climactic for a first-timer. Planetary objects, stars, and clusters are great objects to show off because they are relatively bright, easy to see and less impacted by light pollution and atmospheric conditions than nebula and galaxies.

I started us off with a view of Saturn. By 10:00 PM Saturn is pretty well overhead, but not as bright as it was a while ago. At 48x you can see the golden globe and her rings, which look more like a line running across, but which is an impressive sight nonetheless. My brother's reaction to his first glimpse of Saturn was gratifying, "Oh Sh*t..I had no idea...you could see that much".

I then swapped in my 8mm Stratus, the atmosphere seemed still enough to go to 150x. At this magnification I can count 5 moons, see the distinct shadow and 3d effect of the rings, and slight coloration changes on the planet. Beautiful. I couldn't wait to attach the Barlow, which would bring my magnification to 300x - pretty high on any night, but the atmosphere was clear and still. I was not disappointed. Viewing Saturn at 300x yielded a breathtaking view. At this point, nearly the entire field of view comprised of Saturn and a visible 5 moons. Although focusing at 300x is a little tricky, I could see distinct banding on the planet, and can only imagine how amazing those rings will look in a few years as they tilt away from the current edge-on position.

Next on the list was the Great Cluster in Hercules, M13. This one is an easy find, situated near Hercules's hip. In a dark sky this cluster is visible with the naked eye. Not the case for me, but through the scope it's a real beauty.

Just below Hercules is the constellation Lyra. This was a good night to try for M57, the Ring Nebula. Wow, for a magnitude 9 object, the visibility of this nebula is really good. The doughnut shape is easy to identify, and I was able to make out shading in the gas. I'm sure with more studying I would be able to see surrounding stars and perhaps more detail.

By midnight the Moon crashed the party. It was just full on Friday, so the light it was throwing off into the sky made it entirely futile to find some nice galaxies for my brother to see - M81 and M82 would have been nice targets, but alas, the Moon and a large tree and a skunk made it difficult.

All in all it was a nice night. I was able to show my brother something new, I saw the Ring Nebula for the first time, and am pleased with my new views of Saturn. Hopefully in the coming week I'll be able to show him more wondrous views of our universe.

  My approximate views of Saturn, M13 and M57

Time-Lapse of Discovery

I just saw this amazing time-lapse video of Discovery, and had to share it.  This was taken by photographers Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman, and Philip Scott Andrews, and is comprised of 6 weeks and thousands of images. You can see how the vehicle is prepped for launch and rolled out to the launch pad, and finally lift-off. Enjoy.




original post: airspacemag.com

Venus and the Crescent Moon

While on my way out the door last night I spotted a scene so beautiful I had to double back and photograph it.  Looking westward, there hung a brilliant Venus just above the crescent Moon.
 

1" exposure at f/2.8

Live Eyjafjallajökull Stream

Wile not exactly in the category of amateur astronomy, I found this too cool not to share.  There is now a live video stream of the volcano with an accompanying infrared view as well.  It's a really neat perspective over the satellite imagery we've seen.

Two screen shots I took this morning.  Above is the infrared image.  Currently clouds are blocking the direct view of the volcano.                                                 

DSOs On A Clear Spring Evening

I managed to step outside for a while the Saturday night - which happened to be one of the clearest nights we've had this spring. Although the warmer nights are more enjoyable, the clouds that have been forming in the evening are less than desirable.

I've kinda been on a cluster streak lately and I was in the mood to see a new galaxy or nebula. I began with M3. This cluster is one of the largest and brightest, oldest and is made up of around 500,000 stars. I can tell that this would be a beautiful dense cluster in a larger scope, but with my 8" and my skies it was mostly dim and washed out. I could make out the texture and individual stars - it just wasn't very sharp.

Next up was M63, the Sunflower Galaxy, then M51. M63 was just a gray smudge with a bright core, and M51 had eluded me in the past (poor seeing) so I was happy to finally catch it on this clear night. As faint as it was, I was actually able to tell it was spiraled. Darker skies and more aperture will bring out the spiral structure and core in this galaxy. I then spotted M101 and M109 - M101 being the absolute faintest object of the night. I was only able to detect it after about a minute of staring and using averted vision - it was like trying to see a ghost. M108 was actually more distinguishable than M63, but still very faint.

After moving away from M108, I changed my mind and decided to go back for another look. I'm really starting to dislike my [6x30 no cross-hair] finder scope, and finding my way back just wasn't as easy as it could be. While searching for 108 again, I found another object which surprised and thrilled me. It wasn't on the map I had with me, so I had no idea what I was looking at, but it was a very large round cloud. I eventually realized that I could put this object and M108 in the same FOV, which was beautiful and exciting. After I got back inside and had a chance to look it up, I found out I had spotted the Owl Nebula (Messier 97). How very cool! All in all, very satisfying for me. The best find though was M81 and 82 (Bode's Nebula/Galaxy) side by side. These were the most distinct objects I found, and were a great pleasure to see. Everything I saw was best viewed at 48x with my 25mm Plossl. I have a Barlow coming in this week, and am looking forward to using it. 150x was just too much for the galaxies except for M51 and 63.

Earth Hour

Tomorrow, March 27th from 8:30PM to 9:30PM, the World Wildlife Fund hopes you'll participate in Earth Hour. The object is to have people and cities all over the world turn off all non-essential lighting and electronics to demonstrate concern over global climate change. I hope you'll participate and find that turning off non-essential lighting is easy to do, and will save you money and help the environment at the same time. I've been able to noticeably reduce my electric bill recently by turning off any lights and electronics that I don't need active. And bonus, if your sky is clear tomorrow night, it may be a good time to whip out the binoculars or telescope.

Making The Most Of Your Time

With the cloudy weather we've been having, It got me thinking about how I don't always get as much time to spend under the stars as I'd like. So, when I do get a chance I've learned to be more efficient with my time.  Here's what tips I can offer from experience:

• Set up your equipment at least 30 minutes before you begin your session. Your scope and EPs need to reach thermal equilibrium in order for them to perform optimally. My equipment is now stored in a shed, so I've pretty much managed to remove this step from my night.
  
• Reduce local light glare/trespass as much as possible. Turn off any outdoor lights, and even indoor ones if they are in view from your location - you want your area to be as dark as possible. Your eyes may dilate up to 7 mm in the dark, but it takes around 30 minutes for this to happen. Any stray light reaching your eyes reduces your night-vision.
  
• Use a reference. It helps to know what you're looking for before you go out there. Get yourself an atlas, like Sky & Telescope's Pocket Atlas, look up what objects you can see at Tonight's Sky, or buy a program like Starry Night or Stellarium(free).
  

Saturn Opposition

On January 29, 2010, we saw Mars come into opposition.  This means that Mars was completely opposite the Sun in reference to Earth, and thus roughly at its closest point in orbit to us. While Mars is now moving away from us (still within the constellation Cancer), we have Saturn coming into opposition.  Sunday evening will be a great time to view Saturn as she'll be at her approximate closest point to Earth in orbit. 
As the Sun sets in the West, Saturn will rise in the East, appearing as a bright yellow star, and climbing to her highest by midnight.  Saturn provides spectacular view in even a small telescope.  Any power over 30x will begin to provide views of her rings.  If conditions are right and your gear allows it, you may be able to see the moons, the shadow that the rings cast on the planet's surface, and even the Cassini Division.  The image below is about how I saw Saturn last night with pretty bad seeing conditions at 150x.

The Evening Star

As I was driving home last night around 7:30 PM, I was admiring how clear the sky was. Looking west, I immediately spotted Venus, the brightest object in the sky. When Venus is visible at night (now through early summer), it's called the Evening Star. Just look west after the Sun sets and you can't miss her - beautiful. Venus has phases like the moon, and with a telescope you can view this. Currently, Venus is at full phase, so you'll just see a bright disk. By late July Venus will still be high in the sky around 9 PM, and she'll be at about half phase - something to check out if you can.

ISS Flyby

Did you know you can see the International Space Station from the ground?  It will be viewable for the next week here in southeast PA, but the best days will be March 18th and 20th since it will be highest in the sky, and the weather should be nice.  However, the ISS will be brightest on the 19th and 20th.  On Thursday, the ISS will come into view at 8:58:48 PM at 10° above the horizon (approximately the width of your fist at arms length) and fade into shadow at 9:01:01 PM at 44° (about 4 fists).

The next best day to see the ISS will be Saturday, the 20th. It will rise in the same area, but will fade away just above Orion's shoulder.  On any day, the ISS should be easy to spot, as it will be one of the brightest objects in the sky (almost as bright as Sirius).  You can check out the ISS flyby schedule for your home town by visiting Heavens-Above. Oh, and if you have a telescope or good binoculars, you might be able to resolve the ISS so that it looks less like a star and more like a space station!