The world has come to a halt due to Coronavirus pandemic and like millions of others, I have been working from home. This means that I am saving around 3-4 hours of office commute and now getting some extra precious time to spend on my interest areas.

It has been said that since world has gone under COVID-19 lock down the earth has started breathing. It is evident from the clear and pollution free skies of Delhi which pushed me to sweep through the sky and pull out my childhood Telescope…yes a small one..but don’t worry…you don’t need one!

Did you know that you can watch International Space Station through naked eyes? 

A rare sight of clear and blue sky in Delhi

Thinking about the heavenly bodies, I ended up at 2 closest satellites of the earth, the Moon and ISS space station. With a little google search I found NASA SpotTheStation link where you can easily sign up for free alerts about ISS sightings at any location around the world. So I registered on the portal and received the first alert in a couple of days itself. This is how an alert from NASA looks like:

Alert from NASA Spotthestation

In order to be ready for the sighting in correct direction, I downloaded Compass app on Android and I was all set for the exploration. Here are some of the observations made.

Moon through my Telescope

“Astronomy taught us our insignificance in Nature.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poet

That’s exactly how I felt after the stargazing session. It is difficult to capture a clear video of ISS through normal smartphone, however in reality it looks like an amazing bright shining star shooting at super speed and far better than the video. I could not capture ISS through my telescope as the sighting ends in a matter of 3-6 minutes and it is difficult to focus on such a fast moving object.

I wonder now that why I missed such an opportunity in the past and never thought of doing it but better late than never and now I am all excited for new explorations. The above post may help you to watch ISS.

Feel free to Like, share and comment this post will your friends. That’s all folks.

STAY HOME. STAY SAFE.