Via Universe Today comes a pointer to the Kickstarter for ISS-Above by Liam Kennedy. The ISS-Above is a

device that lights up whenever the International Space Station is nearby (that happens more often than you might expect)

[…]

The International Space Station passes overhead most of the populated areas of the world more frequently than you would imagine. If only you knew it was there.

[ Update: A reader points to a Kickstarter project  in 2011 for a similar ISS flyover device : ISS-Notify by Nathan Bergey — Kickstarter.]

The goal of the Kickstarter is to make the device available to more people. The campaign has already exceeded its goal with over 24 days left.

From Universe Today :

A complete ISS-Above device preloaded with your location is available for kicking in to the Kickstarter for $115. If you just want the memory card with your location and custom Twitter login for sending a Tweet to the ISS, then the price is just $42. There are several other options as well.

The reusable X-37B military spaceplane still in orbit after a year was spotted recently by an amateur spacecraft tracker  (via Spaceports blog):

On Nov 24th and 28th, 2013, Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario captured imagery of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B space plane in the night sky. Orbiting Earth for over year, the mission’s purpose and capability is “in the black.” — Read more about the secret mission here: http://goo.gl/A9Tkz9

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This article about the Atlas V launch this week of a NRO spysat discusses the tracking of these sorts of secret vehicles by amateur spacecraft observers: Atlas Launch Report | Government spy satellite rockets into space on Atlas 5 – Spaceflight Now

Ted Molczan, an experienced amateur satellite watcher in Canada, believes Thursday’s launch lofted the third radar satellite in the Topaz series.

“Am I convinced? I would say I am 80 percent confident NROL-39 is Topaz,” said Jonathan McDowell, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global satellite and launch activity.

It is “always possible there is a one-off vehicle in a somewhat similar orbit. Let’s see the amateurs pick it up and get its orbit, then we’ll make a final conclusion,” McDowell said before Thursday’s launch.

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Find more about tracking spacecraft in the HobbySpace Satellite Observing section.