The International Space Station will be passing over Jeddah tonight... How can you spot it?
The skies over Jeddah will witness a remarkable and fascinating astronomical event this evening, Sunday, May 31st. Engineer Majid Abu Zahra, President of the Jeddah Astronomical Society, announced a unique visible transit of the International Space Station, offering one of the best viewing opportunities of the season. Residents and visitors alike will be able to easily see this prominent scientific landmark shining brightly in the sky with the naked eye from all directions, without the need for telescopes or complex observation equipment.
How to spot the International Space Station in Jeddah's sky tonight
Engineer Majed Abu Zahra explained that the International Space Station will begin to appear above the northwestern horizon at 7:52:33 PM Mecca time, at an altitude of approximately 10 degrees above the horizon. To observers, the station will appear as a bright white light moving swiftly and steadily across the sky without flashing, clearly distinguishing it from conventional aircraft, which appear with intermittent lights.
This spectacular transit is expected to last 5 minutes and 23 seconds, with the station's brightness gradually increasing until it reaches its highest point at 7:55:50 PM, at an altitude of 77 degrees above the horizon in the northeast. This high altitude places it very close to the zenith (the point in the sky at its zenith), an ideal position that offers the best conditions for observing and photographing astronomically, free from geographical obstructions such as buildings and trees.
The station's apparent magnitude will reach -3.2 during this transit, making it brighter than Jupiter and one of the brightest celestial objects visible at night after the Moon and Venus. This exceptional brightness is due to the reflection of direct sunlight off the station's massive solar panels, at a time when Jeddah will already be in the dark evening twilight.
Icon of human cooperation in outer space
The International Space Station (ISS), whose construction began in orbit in 1998 through the joint efforts of five global space agencies (NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency), is the largest man-made structure orbiting Earth. The station orbits at a constant altitude of approximately 400 kilometers and at a tremendous speed of nearly 28,000 kilometers per hour, enabling it to complete a full orbit around our planet roughly every 90 minutes. This allows its crew to experience the unique phenomenon of witnessing sunrises and sunsets 16 times a day.
This unique facility functions as a fully integrated scientific laboratory in a zero-gravity (microgravity) environment, where pioneering research is conducted in the fields of medicine, physics, biology, and materials science. These are experiments that cannot be simulated with the same accuracy under the influence of Earth's gravity, thus paving the way for humanity to explore the depths of the universe and reach Mars.
The importance of monitoring the transit and its impact on the local scientific community
The passage of the International Space Station is not merely a visually stunning spectacle; it serves as an inspiring educational tool that contributes to spreading scientific literacy among all segments of society, particularly students and young people interested in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Witnessing this scientific achievement of humankind orbiting in space with the naked eye fosters a passion for exploration and supports the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's strategic objectives in developing its national space sector, in line with the goals of Vision 2030.
This event also represents a golden opportunity for amateur astrophotographers in Jeddah to capture stunning images using long exposure technology, where cameras can record the station's path as a continuous, bright line of light piercing the darkness of the night, documenting a unique moment that combines the splendor of the universe with human technological progress.
