It's visual magnitude is 4.8, so you need excellent seeing conditions to see it with the naked eye. The brightest stars have magnitude 0 or negative (higher magnitude is fainter). 4.8 is a very faint star. See Limiting magnitude
You won't see it at all from cities, and just on the edge of visibility in dark suburban sites in best conditions, but you could expect to see it with naked eye in dark sky sites in excellent conditions where the limiting magnitude is usually thought of as 6 (some astronomers can see much fainter stars).
You can watch a video of it passing over here, also partially downloaded photograph of the deployed sail from the onboard camera.
Sails in Space: Partial Photo, Video and Light Curve
And you can find out when it passes over your part of the world from the mission control center
LightSail Mission Control Center
(where you have to specify your location - then it will tell you when it will pass close to your position and its maximum elevation from your location).
You won't see it at all from cities, and just on the edge of visibility in dark suburban sites in best conditions, but you could expect to see it with naked eye in dark sky sites in excellent conditions where the limiting magnitude is usually thought of as 6 (some astronomers can see much fainter stars).
You can watch a video of it passing over here, also partially downloaded photograph of the deployed sail from the onboard camera.
Sails in Space: Partial Photo, Video and Light Curve
And you can find out when it passes over your part of the world from the mission control center
LightSail Mission Control Center
(where you have to specify your location - then it will tell you when it will pass close to your position and its maximum elevation from your location).
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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