The event will be visible, weather permitting, from Alabama, Georgia, parts of North Carolina and Tennessee, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all the states of New England, according to NASA.

Jupiter is almost directly overhead and slightly to the south in the evening sky. It is brighter than all other stars and planets in that area of the sky. The space station will be roughly the same brightness, so the setup will be easily spotted even from brightly lit cities.

The path on the ground from which this manmade eclipse can be seen is just 87 yards (80 meters) wide, running from Alabama to Maine. The station moves quickly, so viewers should step outside prior to 9:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. CDT) and find Jupiter. Sometime between then an about 9:38 p.m., depending on your location, the station will appear in the southwestern sky and fly past (or in front of) Jupiter.

The orbiting outpost moves about as fast as a jet airliner, traversing the sky in 5 minutes or less.

Jupiter is 468 million miles (753 million kilometers) from Earth. The space station orbits at about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above us. Taking into account the distances, the station is just big enough to blot out Jupiter from our point of view, according to NASA scientist and writer Tony Phillips.

For a map of passage, see this NASA story. The space station can be spotted on almost any night this time of year from many locations. For backyard astronomer pictures of the station, and tips on finding it, see this SPACE.com story.

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