Father Christmas (ISS!) In The Sky This Christmas Eve!

Wrexham waved to Father Christmas this evening as he flew overhead…

We got a few nice tweets of pictures and people out spotting Santa! Some black photos, but great to spot the dot passing over at 17,000mph!

@wrexham my 9yr old is megga excited now after seeing Santa fly over.

— Chris De Burger (@t__r) December 24, 2014

Just seen Santa passing over in Bradley @wrexham (or maybe it was the ISS)

— Lisa Sides (@lisasides289) December 24, 2014

@wrexham kids mega excited to see Santa fly over. My 5 year old even managed to see the reindeers (she's got good eyes apparently)!!!

— Rich milne (@Milney007) December 24, 2014

I saw 'Santa' @wrexham pic.twitter.com/Ag5pS0kB4k

— abbey williams (@abbeywilliams6) December 24, 2014

@wrexham #ISS over rhostyllen pic.twitter.com/DapsxRXkwO

— andrew dawson (@andrewdwelsh) December 24, 2014

@wrexham just seen the ISS SPACE SHUTTLE!!!! #overllay

— Jess (@JessicasStacks) December 24, 2014

Earlier information which is also valid for the pass at 6:58pm…

This evening Christmas Eve ties up with a visible sighting of the International Space Station, although it could be Santa!

The International Space Station will be visible for about 4 minutes at 5:22pm.

Currently the weather forecast is good and with bright blue winter skies we are hoping it will show a clear view of the ISS.

Generally we find the best ‘spot’ being out around five minutes early to allow your eyes to adjust to the dark and then look up at the sky – to the west-south-western horizon.

You will see a bright light rise up and pass over the ‘top’ of the sky then fade from view.

It will look like a bright star, but unlike the other stars in the sky this one will be moving. The ISS itself is travelling at 17,000mph around 200 miles above us, but does look a little slower in the sky itself.

The pass is shown in this image, which gives you an indication of which direction to look!

There is a shorter pass at 6.58pm, which is likely less bright and last only a couple of minutes.

If you do pop out to see if you can see Father Christmas tweet us a pic @wrexham!

You can see a live stream from a camera on the ISS below, which occasionally goes blue while its offline due to its placement in the skies – but it will come back!

If you enjoyed this you can find more ISS observations via this site, or if you have a smartphone there are various apps that can alert you to passes with the times/dates and brightness!