Each year we here at Now Georgia keep a close eye on any potential sightings of “Santa’s sleigh”. Of course, it isn’t really Santa’s sleigh, but rather bright satellites that can appear as Santa gliding brightly across the sky. Most of the time, that bright satellite is the International Space Station that can appear very brightly.
This year we will have a space station, but not the International Space Station. Sunset occurs at around 5:30PM locally, and just a half hour later the Chinese Space Station Tiangong will glide overhead. This station was launched in 2021/2022 and is smaller than the International Space Station but is still much larger than a normal satellite. This smaller size makes it usually much dimmer, and generally a bit harder to spot.
This year, it will pass overhead from 5:54PM to 6:02PM. Heaven’s Above, a great satellite forecasting site, forecasts the satellite to reach a maximum brightness of -2.1 magnitude. This would make it nearly as bright as Jupiter and a fairly easy object to spot moving from southwest to northeast. This should make a very easy target for even younger children to see, although it will still be bathed in the later stages of twilight. Luckily, it is expected to pass directly overhead as well. You can see a star chart with the time forecast below. It will be most easily visible from 5:57PM to 6:00PM.
This of course does rely on skies being clear, but the chances of the station passing through a break with this sort of overhead trajectory are pretty good.
Let us know if you see Santa on Christmas Eve!
