Look up at 9.45pm! ISS to appear in UAE sky for 1 minute tonight

Heads up, stargazers and space enthusiasts, the orbiting laboratory International Space Station — where Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi currently lives — will be popping up in the UAE sky tonight.

Set your alarm for 9.45pm and make sure you are able to look up to the sky right away because the ISS will be visible for only around one minute, according to an advisory from Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).

The ISS, an artificial satellite that serves as a research lab, completes one orbit every 91 minutes — this is why astronauts living up there see 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every single day.

Since the lab moves around the Earth at such a pace, it's highly likely that most people have already seen it in the sky. "Only that some people don’t recognise that they have seen it," said Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, director of the International Astronomic Centre (IAC), in a previous interview with Khaleej Times.

So, how does the ISS look like from Earth? How do you know you've seen it?

Since it is the third brightest object in the sky, it would be easy to spot especially if you know what time you should look up, according to Nasa.

"Visible to the naked eye, it looks like a fast-moving plane only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster," it added.

• Watch: How UAE astronaut brushes teeth, washes face and hair in space