Look up to see space station

Budding astronomers were urged to turn their eyes skywards tonight as the International Space Station blazes across Irish skies.

The station – one of the most expensive objects ever built – will be the brightest object visible to the naked eye every night until September 15.

“It will be very high up, almost overhead, as it passes 360km above the country,” David Moore, chairman of Astronomy Ireland, said.

“Because it is so high above the ground, everyone can see it at the same time. Even from the north of the country the International Space Station will appear very high in the sky and will look extremely bright so this is one spectacle that everyone on this island can witness together simultaneously.”

Mr Moore said the bright moving object often fooled people into making reports of UFOs to Astronomy Ireland.

The station will cross the sky from right to left at a different time each night and will pass almost overhead.

There are currently two astronauts on board, Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips, who monitor and perform the experiments on board for the scientists on the ground.

After this mission, Commander Krikalev will have spent more time in space than any other human being.

At a total cost of $100bn (€79.4bn), the station was too expensive for one nation to build – so the United States, the European Space Agency and around a dozen other countries combined forces to fund the historic space station.