At first, it may seem that Spot the Station will satisfy the needs of very few people, and that it will therefore be more or less unnoticed by mere mortals. as well as the International Space Station itself every time it orbits the Earth above our heads. And I understand the first reading, because we are talking about a very specific purpose application that, at least in principle, does not contribute much.

However, I must say that I still remember the amazement I experienced years ago, for the first time I could see the ISS with the naked eye, without the need to use binoculars, a camera… i.e. without optical magnifying elements. It was also during the Perseid, during a group astronomical observation, and although the protagonists of the event were shooting stars, the powerful point of light that crossed the sky before my eyes did everything but leave me indifferent.

This brings me to a discovery I made on that occasion that I know many people don’t know about, and that is, as I just mentioned, the International Space Station is visible and identifiable with the naked eye. Of course, we cannot distinguish its modules, solar panels and so on, but Yes, if the necessary conditions are met, we can clearly distinguish it.sy, which are simply a clear night and knowing where and when they will appear.

As for the weather, it’s out of our control, but as for its location, we can count on help, namely the Spot the Station, a free app created by NASA that tells us when we can see the International Space Station. Available for Android and iOS, after installation it will ask us for permission to access the geolocation functions, something essential to determine our location and therefore when we can see it, and from there we will have a list of other sightings, a countdown to the nearest and two visual displays (one in 3D and one in 2D) of the Earth with our position and the station’s current position.

If we click on the link for the nearest observation, we will see Spot the Station list of nearest observation timeswith information about time, time of visibility and places of appearance and disappearance. In addition, we can also filter by time of day and duration, and in case we need help finding it, it also includes an augmented reality function, with which we can position the smartphone camera correctly.

Moreover, it also has complete information section in which we will find both news and many interesting facts about the station, which in turn can arouse more interest in what is still one of the great achievements of human beings.