Be Excellent To Each Other

A few minutes past 6pm tonight, the ISS will be visible travelling across the sky to the south.

Everyone is squeaking about how we can tell our kids it's Santa, but what's more impressive - a magical man that gives you a present once a year, or the fact that we - fucking people - built something in space fifteen years ago and people can still live on it?

I debating on what to tell the Grimlet.

Depends if he's more interested in SCIENCE or Christmas.

A pretty easy call when they're little, but up to you when they're a bit older.

Folks that want to look should look south west for a star that moves across to the south east. A good pair of binoculars can possibly reveal some detail (although you'd have been better off looking at 4:30pm when it came pretty much directly over London). It's going over eastern France, so those in the south of the country will see it best.

You cannae tell him that the ISS is Santa. What happens if he sees http://www.noradsanta.org & knows you're telling him porkies?

Plus he'd me missing out on a second load of wonder in the one night. A huge building that spins round the earth with folk living on it!

I *think* we've just seen it.

That was a reflection off Joans's head.

You were a bit early, so it was probably another satellite. The ISS should be coming into view about now and looks like a big, slow, shooting star. It'll be moving west to east across the southern sky too.

It's there now, so I'd be surprised.

Inspired by this thread we went out to see it.

Absolutely loads of cloud, but we saw it coming over for about forty seconds before it went behind the clouds.

Yay Santa/Science!

These might help in future. http://www.n2yo.com/whatsup.php & http://www.n2yo.com/space-station/

... & if you can get past the clunky interface http://www.calsky.com is wonderful for pretty much everything

Tell him Santa made it for good astronauts.

A few years ago there was a very clear sighting of the ISS with the shuttle following just behind. That really was awesome, and I can remember standing in the back garden watching it feeling very futuristic.

First Born worked out via logic that there's no Santa, and hasn't believed in him since he was, ooh, 3. Second Born is the most gullible person in the entire world so we're all able to keep up the pretense (First Born does a good job of not spoiling it for him).

I'd explain what the ISS is, and how thoroughly awesome that is, and then say that Santa was following it to catch up and deliver the astronauts' presents.

Jesus on a reconnaissance mission.

My son is only 6 months old so maybe a couple more Christmas Days to go before Santa becomes fixed in his mind

I had thought of telling him the truth as soon as I could, in the end I figured this could make him the "odd" kid at school later so better to spin the tale of Santa untill it runs its course.

The idea of telling him the truth came as a result of my mates experiance, he has 3 girls and the eldest found the truth and told the other 2 so melt down from 3 kids.

I think the excitement of Santa is one of the really magical things about being a kid and it would be a real shame to not give them that theatre.

Thoroughly, completely, absolutely

If they find out or suss it then fine, but to flat out tell them? That's reindeer shit.

My niece wanted some goddawful robot dog thing for Christmas that, going by pretty much every review of it, is a piece of shit that'll break within hours of being switched on. Usually that kind of present would come from 'Santa' but it was branded as having come from my parents instead because my sister couldn't face the inevitable questioning along the lines of, "But how can mum take something back to the shop when it was Santa that delivered it?" I agree with what sgd said, but parents absolutely have my sympathy in juggling this kind of malarkey in order to try and keep the myth alive.