The space shuttle Discovery is presently docked at the International Space Station, and the combined facility will be visible from most of North America over the coming days. The duo circles the planet every 91.4 minutes at an altitude of 216 miles (347 km), and if it happens to pass over your location around morning or evening twilight, it will look like a brilliant star crossing the sky in the course of a few minutes. Here’s a photo from my backyard on Thursday morning (4:25 am) showing the duo brightening while emerging from the Earth’s shadow:
So far, the visible passes from Boston during this mission have been in the early morning sky. We’re forecast to have evening passes on Sunday and Monday, then the shuttle undocks on Tuesday afternoon, and we have good visiblity of the pair flying separately on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings before the shuttle lands in Florida on Thursday. Others in the mid-northern latitudes will probably have similar opportunities … for predictions visit heavens-above.com and enter your location.