New Twitter Page To Alert Followers: Look Up Now to See the ISS!

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Want to know when to stop tweeting and look heavenward for a view of the International Space Station? Follow one more account, then.

Several websites carry information about the space station’s path through the sky, but until now there’s been no service to alert people when the station is near them.

Dutch journalists Govert Schilling and Jaap Meijers have built a Twitter page to let people know when to look up.

The international, manned space station ISS is so easy to see mainly because of its huge solar panels that reflect sunlight. Since the start in 1998 the space station has orbited the earth over 60,000 times.

A new series of exceptionally bright passes will start in Europe this week. Other continents too will see – weather permitting – many great passes, for instance on July 7 in the United States and July 10 in East Asia.

People using Twitter can now receive an alert when the ISS will be passing at the location in their Twitter profile. All they have to do is follow the Twitter account @twisst: www.twitter.com/twisst

Twisst may be the first service on Twitter that sends out such highly personalised information. Twisst sends an alert to every follower personally, wherever in the world that person may be. More technical details are available here. Click here for an example of what an alert looks like.