How to see the ISS tonight: times, direction and what to look for

You can see the International Space Station (ISS) without a telescope. It looks like a bright, steady star that glides across the sky in a few minutes. The trick is knowing when and where to look, because it is only visible on some evenings or mornings, usually within a few hours of sunset or sunrise.

The quickest way: open our Tonight page, pick your town and evening, and look at ISS passes. You get the start time, where it appears, how high it climbs and where it disappears. NASA's Spot the Station gives the same kind of list. We compared an extended run of our calculation with NASA's predictions for London, New York and Sydney; the results are below.

What time will the ISS be visible tonight?

That depends on where you are, and on some nights there is no predicted visible pass from your location. NASA says all sightings happen within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. So depending on the week, you watch either in the evening after sunset or early in the morning before sunrise.

To get the times for your town:

1. Open our Tonight page and type your city, or use your location. 2. Pick tonight or another evening. Each evening runs from noon to noon, so it also includes passes before the next sunrise. 3. Scroll to ISS passes. Each pass shows its time, where it appears, its highest point and where it ends. Tap Show on horizon to see it drawn along the horizon.

Times are shown in the time zone of the place you choose, so you can also check a city far away. These predictions check the station's position and sunlight. Clouds, haze, how bright it looks and trees or buildings in the way can still stop you seeing it.

Our screenshot shows Sydney on the evening of 10 October 2026: one pass from 20:01 to 20:08, highest at 56° in the south-west. NASA's list for Sydney gives the same pass: 8:01 PM, 7 minutes, 56°.

The Tonight page uses the latest orbital elements from CelesTrak: data that describes the station's orbit at one moment, called the epoch. It stops predicting 72 hours after that moment, so the forecast can be shorter than three days. That is on purpose: the station's orbit changes slightly, and NASA says flight controllers update its trajectory data about three times a week. Check again on the day.

Which direction to look for the Space Station

Every pass list gives a direction (such as SW or E) and a height in degrees. 0° is the horizon and 90° is straight overhead.

• Appears: where the predicted viewing window starts. Look there a few minutes early.
• Highest point (NASA: Max Height): how high it climbs. A low pass, 10 to 20°, needs an open view without trees or buildings in that direction.
• Disappears / Ends: where the predicted window closes: the station drops below 10°, flies into Earth's shadow, or (on our Tonight page) the sky gets too bright at dawn. You may still see it a moment longer.

These are calculated viewing windows, not guaranteed sightings.

Our sky chart shows two predicted passes over London (UK time, calculated on 9 October 2026):

On 18 October it crosses the southern sky, reaching 36°. On 22 October it reaches almost straight overhead, from west to east.

You will notice that some passes start or end high in the sky. That is not a mistake. Before sunrise the station can suddenly appear when it comes out of Earth's shadow into sunlight (London, 22 October: it appears about 20° up in the west). After sunset it can fade out partway across the sky when it enters the shadow (Sydney, 9 October: it disappears about 20° up in the south).

NASA explains that the orbit is tilted 51.6°, so the station never goes farther north or south than 51.6° latitude, and never goes directly overhead for places beyond that. London, at about 51.5° north, is just inside that limit.

What the ISS looks like in the sky

NASA describes it as looking like an airplane or a very bright star moving across the night sky, except that it does not have flashing lights and does not change direction. It also moves faster than a typical airplane.

How to tell it apart:

• Plane: flashing lights, and it can turn.
• ISS: one steady light moving in a smooth line, without turning, across a large part of the sky in a few minutes.
• Star or planet: does not move across the sky in minutes.

The station flies at 17,500 mph, according to NASA, while airplanes fly at about 600 mph. It does not look that fast because it is far away: it orbits about 400 km above Earth (ESA), and it is even farther from you when it is low in your sky. NASA explains that it shows up because the Sun reflects off the station, against a sky that is already darker.

On a long camera exposure, like NASA's photo above the Washington National Cathedral, the moving station becomes a straight streak of light.

Why sunlight and a dark sky matter

You see the ISS because the Sun lights it up: sunlight reflects off the station (NASA). For that you need two things at the same time:

1. Your sky is dark enough. During the day the sky is far too bright. 2. The station is still in sunlight. Late at night it is usually in Earth's shadow, just like you.

NASA says viewing opportunities fall within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. The station is high up, so it can still catch sunlight when the Sun has already set for you. Our Tonight page counts a pass when the ISS is more than 10° up and lit by the Sun, while the Sun is at least 6° below your horizon.

That is also why there are weeks with no visible passes. In our comparison, London had no visible pass from 9 to 15 October 2026 in either NASA's list or ours, and then at least one every morning from 16 to 22 October. Sydney had evening passes from 9 to 12 October and then a gap until 22 October. The times the ISS passes over a place shift from day to day, so runs of morning or evening passes come and go.

How our predictions compare with NASA's Spot the Station

We wanted to know if the calculation behind our Tonight page agrees with NASA's predictions. On 9 October 2026 we downloaded NASA's Spot the Station lists for London, New York and Sydney, and calculated the passes for 9 to 22 October with exactly the same rule as our Tonight page, from one set of CelesTrak orbital elements (epoch 8 October). This was an extended research run: the Tonight page itself does not forecast that far ahead. Separately, we checked the live Tonight page for Sydney (see the screenshot above).

For the passes in both lists, our start times were within 1 minute of NASA's and the highest points within 2°. The directions matched, with one small difference: for one London pass we have it appearing in the ESE, NASA in the E. Where a pass starts high in the sky, the starting height differed by up to 3°.

The differences in which passes were listed were all in New York:

• We list 5 extra short morning passes. All of them start with the Sun only 6.1 to 6.5° below the horizon, right at our twilight limit, when dawn is already brightening the sky. NASA does not list them. NASA's page does not say exactly how dark the sky must be for its lists.
• NASA lists one pass we do not: a short pass on 18 October at 4:22 AM with a displayed maximum of 10°. Our calculation finds no viewing window then. It is near our height limit (more than 10° up); the rounded values alone cannot explain the difference.

One caution: the Tonight page stops predictions 72 hours after the orbital data's epoch. We stretched the calculation to two weeks for this test only. This compares two sets of predictions; it does not measure how accurate either is against real sightings. Days ahead, times can shift as the orbit changes, so always check close to the day.

ISS trackers: live maps, NASA's app and Flightradar24

There are two kinds of ISS tools, and they answer different questions:

• Where is the ISS right now? A live map. ESA's ISS tracker shows where the station is now and its path 90 minutes back and 90 minutes ahead. Useful to follow it, but it does not tell you whether you can see it.
• When can I see it from here? A pass list for your location, like our Tonight page or NASA's Spot the Station. NASA also has an official Spot the Station app with notifications and real-time tracking.

What about Flightradar24? Flightradar24 is built for air traffic. It says its tracking data comes mainly from ADS-B signals sent by aircraft, plus other aircraft-tracking sources. For the space station, use a satellite tracker such as ESA's, or a pass list.

A pass list is what you need to actually see it. It does the hard part: it checks whether the station is up, whether it is in sunlight and whether your sky is dark enough.

Can you see the ISS during the day?

Not in the normal way. NASA's sighting lists only cover the hours around sunrise and sunset, when the sky is dark enough and the station is lit. In full daylight the sky is too bright.

Photographers sometimes catch the ISS crossing the Sun. NASA's photo combines six frames of the station as a tiny dark shape against the Sun. This needs special solar filters and careful planning. Never look at the Sun with your eyes, binoculars or a telescope.

For the planets and the Moon that are up tonight, see the rest of our Tonight page.

ISS FAQ

How do I view the ISS from my location? Look up the pass times for your town on our Tonight page or NASA's Spot the Station. Go outside a few minutes early, face the direction where it appears and look for a bright, steady light moving smoothly. No telescope or binoculars needed.

What time will the ISS be visible tonight? That depends on where you are. NASA says sightings happen within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. Some nights have no predicted visible pass; the Tonight page then says so.

What direction should I look for the Space Station? Every pass has an "appears" direction, such as WSW, and a highest point in degrees. Face the "appears" direction; it moves across the sky towards the "disappears" direction.

Can you track the ISS on Flightradar24? Flightradar24 is built for aircraft and says its data comes mainly from aircraft ADS-B signals. Use ESA's ISS tracker for a live map, or a pass list to know when you can see it.

When can I see the ISS from my location? In runs: for a week or two there may be passes most mornings or most evenings, then none for a while. In our check, London had none from 9 to 15 October 2026 and then at least one every morning from 16 to 22 October.

Where is the ISS right now? ESA's ISS tracker shows its position now and its path 90 minutes back and ahead.

Can you see the ISS during the day? Not in the normal way; the sky is too bright. Photographers with special solar filters sometimes capture it crossing the Sun. Never look at the Sun.

Is someone in space right now? Yes. NASA says the space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000, and its facts page mentions an international crew of seven. The crew changes over time.

What do astronauts do 16 times a day? See a sunrise and a sunset. NASA says that in 24 hours the station makes 16 orbits of Earth, travelling through 16 sunrises and sunsets.

How big is the ISS? NASA gives 109 metres (356 feet) from end to end.

Why does the ISS suddenly disappear? Often because it flies into Earth's shadow: without sunlight on it, you cannot see it any more, even high in the sky. The "Ends" time in a pass list can also mean the station drops below 10°, or, on our Tonight page, that the dawn sky gets too bright; you may still see it a little longer then.

How we checked

The facts about the ISS come from NASA's Spot the Station page (what it looks like, when sightings happen, the list columns, the speed and the 51.6° tilt), NASA's space station facts and figures (continuous crew since November 2000, 16 orbits and 16 sunrises and sunsets a day, size) and ESA (height of about 400 km, the ISS tracker). The Flightradar24 data sources come from its "How it works" page.

For the comparison we downloaded NASA's Spot the Station sighting lists for London, New York and Sydney on 9 October 2026, and the ISS orbital elements from CelesTrak (NORAD 25544, epoch 8 October 2026, 23:34 UTC). We calculated the passes from 9 to 22 October with the same code as our Tonight page: the ISS more than 10° up, lit by the Sun (Earth's shadow modelled as a simple cylinder), with the Sun at least 6° below the horizon, checked every 10 seconds. A pass counted as the same when both lists had it starting within 2 minutes. The Tonight page stops predictions 72 hours after the orbital data's epoch; the two-week run was for this test only, and it compares predictions, not real sightings. Our tool does not predict weather, haze or how bright a pass looks.

The sky chart, shadow diagram, comparison chart and method diagram are our own. The Tonight screenshot is from our live page. The photos are from NASA's image library (public domain); we resized them. None of the images is AI-generated.

Want more to watch for? See our meteor shower calendar.