Torontonians will experience one of the brightest sightings of the International Space Station this year on Monday, with astronomers predicting that the station would outshine any stars in the night sky.

Beginning at 10:01 p.m., the station should become more and more visible to the naked eye as it reaches an apparent magnitude of -3.4, slightly less bright than Venus, before vanishing again around eight minutes later, according to the non-profit website Heavens-Above.

In astronomy, the apparent magnitude measures the brightness of celestial bodies. The higher the number, the harder it is to see the object from earth.

“Somebody with a pair of binoculars will probably be able to tell it’s not a star,” Denis Grey, treasurer of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, told the Star. “(Venus) is probably the second thing after the moon and the sun, so it will be extremely bright. It will definitely be noticeable. All you have to do is look up.”

Heavens-Above says the flyover will start from the southwest, climb to a maximum altitude of 87 degrees south-southeast, and then disappear east-northeast.

Sightings such as the one predicted for Monday are more eye-catching than usual because of their timing.

“The space station goes over Toronto about five times a day every day. . . and at certain time of the month, the space station comes over Toronto when it’s sunset or sunrise, and at those points in time, the reflectivity of the space station makes it appear very bright,” Grey said. “It can be extremely bright, and it can be very spectacular some times.”

“It’s really about whether or not it’s clear or not and whether or not you’re looking at the right place at the right time.”

In an email to the Star, NASA spokesman Josh Buck said the space station is easy to spot because “it looks like a plane but doesn’t have any blinking lights. It will fly in a straight line without deviating, and it doesn’t twinkle like a star.”

Amateur astronomers hoping to catch a glimpse of the station should make use of NASA’s Spot the Station service, which alerts users through text messages a few hours before a sighting.

The International Space Station circles the earth at an average speed of 27,500 km/h, up to 435 kilometres above sea level.

On Tuesday, the European Space Agency made its final supply run to the station. From now on, its six crew members will have to rely on supplies from the Russian or Japanese Space agencies. Two American companies, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, have also made deliveries this year.