Father Christmas — in the guise of the International Space Station — will be flying over London early on Christmas morning. If you are so minded, and the weather permits, you can get the kids up early (assuming they’re not already up!) and take them out to watch Santa finishing his duties for another year.
To see the ISS, head outside to find a dark spot – a park, or somewhere above the street lighting level — which is easier if living in a west-facing block of flats. Get acclimatized to the darkness and look to the western horizon.
What you’re looking for is a bright star heading in a straight line brightening from the west and racing towards you. It can take a bit to locate it, but once you spot it, the “star” becomes very obvious. The flypast over London should start to become visible from around 7:12am, and will fly right over London at 7:14am.
You can either point out that it’s Santa heading home after a very busy night delivering presents to good children, or if more science-minded, that it’s an amazing human achievement in space.
Don’t forget to wave to Santa/Astronauts.
Timings from N2YO.
