ISS UK Pass details for February 2013.
Long Exposure photo of a visible ISS pass Credit: Mark Humpage
The International Space Station (ISS) is back over UK skies with bright passes during February 2013.
The ISS is a large Space Station/ laboratory orbiting the Earth, it can be spotted with the naked eye at certain times as it orbits the planet at 17500mph at an altitude of roughly 200 miles.
Spotting the ISS is very easy and you don’t need any special equipment, only your eyes.
See the Beginners Guide to Seeing the ISS to see how easy it is to spot it sailing over. You can also see this great guide on how to watch and photograph the ISS.
All you need to know is; when and where the ISS will be passing over your location, luckily the United Kingdom is small enough for most of us who live there to see bright ISS passes at the same time.
Only these bright passes are included in the predictions and the fainter, less easy ones have been left out.
The table below gives approximate ISS pass times and basic information and will help you spot the station as it passes over.
Only bright passes which can be seen from the UK are listed and the information is approximate. Timings may differ by a few tens of seconds, dependant on observer’s location. Times may change at short notice if the Station performs an orbital boost and changes its orbit. All Times are GMT – UTC.
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time, get your cameras ready and enjoy the ISS as it passes over in February
Good luck and clear skies…..
ISS bright UK pass details for February 2013
| Date | Approximate Brightness of the ISS |
ISS Rises 10° over the horizon (start time) | ISS Approaches From (start direction) | ISS Highest Point | ISS Sets/ Goes into Earths Shadow (direction) | ISS Goes into Earths Shadow | Approximate ISS Pass Details |
| 13 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 19:10 | WSW | 19:13 | SE | 19:14 | Near Overhead Pass |
| 14 February 2013 | Very Bright | 18:19 | WSW | 18:23 | E | 18:25 | Medium Altitude Pass |
| 15 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 19:05 | W | 19:08 | E | 19:09 | Overhead Pass |
| 16 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 18:14 | WSW | 18:18 | E | 18:21 | Overhead Pass |
| 17 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 19:00 | W | 19:03 | E | 19:05 | Overhead Pass |
| 18 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 18:09 | W | 18:13 | E | 18:16 | Overhead Pass |
| 19 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 18:55 | W | 18:58 | ESE | 19:00 | Overhead Pass |
| 20 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 18:04 | W | 18:08 | E | 18:11 | Overhead Pass |
| 20 February 2013 | Very Bright | 19:41 | WNW | 19:44 | SW | 19:44 | Medium Altitude Pass |
| 21 February 2013 | Incredibly Bright | 18:50 | W | 18:53 | ESE | 18:55 | Near Overhead Pass |
| 22 February 2013 | Bright | 19:36 | W | 19:39 | S | 19:39 | Low Pass |
| 23 February 2013 | Very Bright | 18:45 | W | 18:48 | SE | 18:51 | Medium Altitude Pass |
is the iss curently manned? and if so can contact be made sill via amatuer radio on 145,800 as it passes over the uk?
Yes, but not sure about contacting it via radio
Hi for your information I have listened to a canadian on board the ISS tonight talking to some school children using my amatuer radio equipment at home. so it can still be done.
Comander Hadfield, brilliant!
Look on the RSGB website to obtain a licence through a local amateur radio club. The foundation is easy as it is geared to children.
You can use APRS to make contact with the ISS using packet radio. Here is video using amateur radio packet to make contact with the APRS side of their station.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdS3EqRooN8
If you get a licence you will find loads of things to do with a small radio as well as contacting the ISS also.
it would be really useful to have a note of the elevation for each pass; if it’s too low I can’t see the ISS as I have too many trees and hills around me. I don’t want to freeze staring up in the sky if it’s passing at 13o elevation and thus invisible to me!
Thats being developed and will be available soon 🙂
Put a hat and scarf on it’s only a short window of opportunity or walk up that hill nearby to warm up and see it it as early as you can don’t knock it !
I may be a humble simpleton, but I dont understand why there are 2 passes on the 20th, an hour and forty minutes apart. Does it have a reverse gear!? Im sure Im missing something thats obvious to everyone else…
The ISS does a complete orbit of the earth in roughly 90 minutes and if the sun is in the right position below the horzon, more than one pass may be visible per evening
How does it not hit any other space hardware? such as satelites?
NASA knows where the space debris that could threaten the ISS is, if there is a chance of a damaging collision, they change the stations orbit to avoid it
Passed over lancahire tonite and was totally amazed by it, got a couple of shots as it passed overhead, a bit wobbly but not bad for a first attempt, will be looking out for it again tomorrow. Great info from this site.
Amazing!! Just saw the ISS pass literally directly over my house! The info provided on this site was bang on! Thanks a lot!
Great information, thanks.
I was expecting an “overhead pass” tonight (17thFeb) and I was surprised how low in the sky it was. We are at Latitude 56.537. Where do you calculate your pass details (zenith) from and roughly how much difference is there across the UK?
Pass details are calculated for Oxford UK and the further North you are the lower the ISS will appear in relation to the horizon. All passes in this table are visible from all parts of the UK
Superb view of ISS as it passed through clear skies over South-West Devon 20 minutes ago.
Why can the ISS be seen for only some parts of the year?
It can be seen roughly every 6 weeks, it just needs to be in the right place at the right time for sunlight to reflect off of it in a dark sky
How can the ISS be seen for such a long period of time in any local spot if its travelling at 17,000 mph
Its reflected sunlight. The station passes occasionally over parts of the Earth where it reflects sunlight back to earth for a few minutes. This is when we can see it pass over. The station orbits every 90 minutes but is not in the right position to reflect sunlight and can also be on the day side to not be seen
Excellent – just saw ISS in between cloud breaks – hopefully clear skies tomorrow
Bristol,UK