Shanghai Daily News

If the weather cooperates, stargazers in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province will be able to observe Shenzhou VI as it orbits the Earth over the next four nights, astronomers said yesterday.

The best time for locals to try to spot the spacecraft is from 4:05am to 5:05am and from 6:25pm to 7:25pm, they said.

"The flying Shenzhou spacecraft at night is similar to a flaring coin seen from a kilometer away," said Yan Jiarong, vice secretary general of the astronomers' society in Jiangsu Province.

He said during the five days of flight, the spacecraft will orbit the Earth 76 times, with each trip taking around 90 minutes.

He said it's not possible to clearly see the structure of the spacecraft with naked eyes because it is more than 300 kilometers from Earth.

"The spacecraft will seem like a star which moves slower than a normal plane," he said.