When can I see the space station?
The International Space Station is the third-brightest thing in the night sky. It looks like a steady, fast-moving star with no blinking lights. You can only see it when it's sunlit and your sky is dark: shortly after sunset or before sunrise.
Next visible passes in large cities around the world
| City | Next visible pass (local time) | Highest | Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai, China | Sun, Oct 18, 3:51 GMT+8 | 51° | SW → NE |
| Chengdu, China | Sun, Oct 18, 5:26 GMT+8 | 25° | W → N |
| Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo | none in the next day | ||
| Istanbul, Turkey | Sun, Oct 18, 5:05 GMT+3 | 46° | SW → NE |
| Lagos, Nigeria | none in the next day | ||
| Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | none in the next day | ||
| Lahore, Pakistan | Sun, Oct 18, 3:57 AM GMT+5 | 53° | SW → NE |
| São Paulo, Brazil | none in the next day | ||
| Mexico City, Mexico | none in the next day | ||
| Moscow, Russia | Sun, Oct 18, 5:11 GMT+3 | 12° | S → SE |
| Dhaka, Bangladesh | none in the next day | ||
| Harbin, China | Sun, Oct 18, 3:55 GMT+8 | 32° | SW → E |
| Tokyo, Japan | Sun, Oct 18, 3:19 GMT+9 | 45° | SW → NE |
| Johannesburg, South Africa | none in the next day | ||
| London, United Kingdom | Sat, Oct 17, 5:28 BST | 13° | S → E |
| New York City, New York | Sat, Oct 17, 5:03 AM EDT | 37° | SW → E |
How we compute passes
We take the station's latest orbital elements from CelesTrak and propagate them with the standard SGP4 model (satellite.js) into a 30-hour ground track, sampled every 30 seconds. Each city's passes are then found from that track and refined to 5-second steps. A pass counts as visible when the station is at least 10° up, sunlit, and the Sun is more than 6° below your horizon.
Accuracy check: on October 16, 2026 we compared 18 predicted passes over Denver with NASA's official published ISS trajectory (Johnson Space Center ephemeris). Every pass matched, with peak times within 5 seconds and peak heights within 1°.
Orbital data: CelesTrak. Reference trajectory: NASA JSC. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.
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