Satellites can be seen traversing the skies above La Palma in the first 2 hours after sunset and the 2 hours before sunrise. They vary from small slow moving dots of about the same intensity as the smaller stars, to larger dots which are more intense than the brightest planet and taking less than 2 minutes to cross the sky. The International Space Station (ISS) is one of the brighter objects and the Hubble Space station (HS) and many old rocket sections are also clearly visible.
To check out which objects will be visible during your stay on La Palma use one of the following links to www.heavens-above.com
Satellites (next evening)
International Space Station (next week)
Envisat
Hubble Space Telescope
With luck, the correct information, an accurate watch, a good sense of direction and a sharp eye it is also possible to see Iridium flares.
Iridium flares are the short flashes of light caused when the sun reflects off the Iridium coated solar energy panels (wings!) of some satellites.
Iridium flares
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