The International Space Station's orbit around Earth will cross over the Baltimore area several times in the coming days, visible overhead in the early evenings.
It will fly over during the 7 p.m. hour six times between Wednesday and Monday. On a clear night, it is easy to spot because it shines brighter than a star but appears much more distant than an airplane.
On Friday, the space station will be around its brightest, though it will only move about halfway across the sky before disappearing behind the Earth's shadow. Look to the northwest about 7:49 p.m. and the spacecraft will be moving toward the southeast, disappearing about 4 minutes later.
Saturday and Sunday, it will be slightly less bright, but in the sky for longer. Saturday, it will appear on the northwest horizon about 7:01 p.m., moving low across the northeast sky before disappearing about 7:07 p.m. On Sunday, it will be dimmer still, appearing in the northwest sky about 7:49 p.m. and moving low across the southwest sky until 7:54 p.m.
Monday, however, it will be back at its brightest, and moving across the center of the sky for its best show of the week. It will appear at 7:01 p.m. in the northwest, moving directly overhead and to the southeast horizon, disappearing at 7:08 p.m.
A crew of Russian cosmonauts, an Italian astronaut and two Americans, Mike Hopkins and Karen Nyberg, are currently on board. Nyberg shares her observations from orbit via Twitter at @AstroKarenN.