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The International Space Station will shoot across New Zealand skies tonight.
The station is expected to zoom across the sky at 8.59pm and although it will be able to be seen in various parts of the country, it will be most visible in the Auckland region.
Stardome Observatory spokesman Graham Murray said the station would cross the sky in about three minutes.
He said the 58 metre long space station would be visible from all parts of the country although it may be less bright in the south with places like Invercargill enjoying long twilights at this time of year.
"Two things make it very visible - after the moon it will be the brightest thing in the sky and it will be moving," Mr Murray said.
He said the space station wwould be travelling in a South-West to North-East direction across the sky.
The space station is about 340km above earth, about 12km less than the distance between Wellington and New Plymouth.
Mr Murray said the station orbited the earth 15 times a day but tonight, because of the timing with the sun, it would be highlighted by the sun's light while New Zealand was relatively dark.
Because of its proximity to Earth, the station will be a lot brighter than Jupiter.
- NEWSTALK ZB
