ISS transits of the Sun and Moon near Odessa, TX

PlaceOdessa, TX

From here

✕ Misses: passes 1.1 Sun widths to the side

From the centre line (9 km northeast)

✓ Crosses the Sun · 1.0 s

Slowed down: the real crossing takes 1.0 sThe station is about 1/51 of the Sun's width: it never covers it, it shows as a small black dot sliding across (drawn larger here so you can see it).

Open the centre line in your map app ↗

ISS · Sun

Thu, Oct 22 · 2:14:47 AM · in 10 h 47 min

From here it misses. The centre line is 9 km away; anywhere in the 6 km band around it sees the crossing.

Where to look: southeast, 43° up
Band width: 5.8 km
Station's distance: 597 km
Nearest centre-line point: 31.9353, -102.2744 ↗

Protect your eyesOnly with a certified solar filter, also on the front of any camera or binoculars.

How to catch it

Be on the centre line a few minutes early: the crossing is over in about a second, too fast to aim.
Record video or a fast burst (10+ frames a second) with a long lens, and start a few seconds before.
Check again the day before: orbit updates can move the line by a few km.
Moon transits work with any telescope or long lens; Sun transits need a solar filter.

Transits and near misses, next 14 days

Each drawing is what you would see from here. Orange: it crosses from here; otherwise, how far to go. Tap one to see it.

What is a transit?

Seen from a spot on the ground, the space station sometimes lines up exactly with the Sun or the Moon and passes in front of it as a tiny black shape.

Because the station is only 400 km up, a few km to the side is enough to make it miss: the transit is visible only from a narrow band, the centre line.

These times come from the latest orbit; the further ahead, the more the line can shift.

Computed by OrbitNight from the latest orbits (Space-Track) with astronomy-engine for the Sun and Moon.

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