— This week is shaping up to be a good one for spotting the International Space Station (ISS) as it passes over North Carolina.

Spotting the ISS is surprisingly easy. Look for a bright point of light moving relatively fast.

Tuesday night, look for the station to rise from the northwest horizon at 9:45 p.m. It will travel across the sky for nearly 3 minutes before fading from view as it enters the Earth's shadow nearly overhead.

This station won't be as bright Tuesday as the rest of the week, but weather permitting, will still be very visible and easy to find.

Wednesday night, look for the station to rise at 8:54 p.m. from the northwest. It will set a little more than 5 minutes later on the eastern horizon.

Thursday's pass is expected to be very bright, rising from the west north west a 9:40 p.m. and setting in the southwest 3 minutes later. This station will also dim out of view that night in the middle of the sky as it passes into shadow.

Friday offers the brightest pass of the week beginning at 8:49 p.m. from the northwest, traveling nearly overhead before setting in the southeast nearly 5 minutes later.

Tony Rice is a volunteer in the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador program and software engineer at Cisco Systems. You can follow him on twitter @rtphokie.