ive always been intrigued by the night sky. for the past 7 years, ive never missed a meteor shower, i am familiar with the constellations, i can identify where the visible planets and stars are, but ive never got a chance to see the international space station. ive read its pretty hard to see due to the immense light pollution in the los angeles basin and it appears as a faint dot traveling at an enormous speed. last night, that changed when i stayed up till 600am to view the alignment of jupiter, mercury, and mars (this only happens once every 50 years). i was looking at the south-southeast horizon and located the cluster of planets. as i found them, i also saw a tiny speckle of light wizzing its way from the northern to the east-southeastern horizon. i thought it was a jet, but it didnt blink or leave a trail of gas. it was just a constant light like a pixel on a huge television screen. i followed it with my binoculars to get a closer look and sure enough it was the ISS. it took about 30 seconds to cross the whole horizon which no object in our atmosphere can attain.