The International Space Station promises to put in some bright passes over Hawaii early next week, weather permitting.
Early birds will be treated to a particularly memorable pass on Sunday, when the space station rises in the northwest, just below the Big Dipper, at about 5:46 a.m.
The station will rise toward the top of the sky, first along the handle of the dipper and then between the bright stars Vega and Arcturus, also known as Hokulea. As it descends toward the southeastern horizon at 5:50 a.m., it will line up with Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn, low in the east.
It will blink out of sight in Earth’s shadow about a minute later.
On Monday the space station will appear suddenly at about 5 a.m. just below Vega in the northeast, moving to the right. It will pass above Jupiter and Saturn about four minutes later.
Later Monday it will rise in the southwest at about 7:57 p.m., moving to the right. Just before 8 p.m. it will pass below Mars and above a very slender crescent moon, setting in the west.
Just after 8 p.m. it will pass under the bright star Capella and the constellation Cassiopeia, which looks like a bent letter M, low in the northwest. About a minute later it will disappear just above Polaris, the North Star, Hokupaa in Hawaiian.
The longest and brightest pass comes Tuesday evening, when the space station will rise in the southwest at about 7:10 p.m. and head straight up. Just before 7:12 it will pass to the right of the three distinctive stars in Orion’s belt.
It will then skirt Orion’s crowning star, Betelgeuse, commonly pronounced “beetle juice.” Betelgeuse is nearing the end of its lifetime and is expected to explode into a supernova, brighter than the moon, sometime in the next 100,000 years.
On the way down from the zenith, or top of the sky, the space station will pass through the constellation Gemini, lining up nicely with the “twins,” the stars Castor and Pollux.
Then it will descend toward the northeast, blinking out at about 7:14 p.m. near the Big Dipper.
The space station, about 250 miles up and traveling at 17,500 mph, is visible shortly before dawn and after dusk when its shiny surfaces reflect the sun. Unlike airplanes, it does not have blinking lights.
Aboard are four Americans — Kate Rubins, Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins and Shannon Walker — two Russian cosmonauts and an astronaut from Japan.
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NASA and heavens-above.com contributed to this report.