Today's question:  My wife and I are not astronomers, but we do
enjoy watching the night sky and spotting the common things we
can identify. Here's our question: How do you tell the
International Space Station from a high-flying airplane?  We'll
get to that, but first this quick note: You may recall that last
Sunday was the unveiling of the winner in this year's Remarkably
Excellent and Really Big Hot Weather Limerick contest. This is
usually followed by two or three days of calls and e-mails from
people who hated it.  This year, however, while there was some
dissent, I heard from a bunch of you who actually liked it. This
means one of two things: Either I actually got one right for a
change or you have just given up hope that I'll ever pick a
really good limerick. Either way it was nice not to get yelled
at.  Now, about the ISS: For starters, the space station almost
always appears in the western or northwestern skies and moves in
an easterly direction. And its lights are brighter than most
stars and do not