The Space Station over Meade County
It orbits about 260 miles up at roughly 17,500 mph, circling the Earth every ninety-odd minutes, with people aboard. When it passes over at the right time it is the brightest thing in the sky after the moon and Venus — a steady white point crossing in a few minutes, never blinking.
Drag the globe to turn it. The solid line is where the station has actually been, sampled once a minute; the dashed line is the next orbit, computed here from the current orbital elements.
Next visible passes from Brandenburg
Orbital elements 0.54 days oldEvery crossing is listed, visible or not. A pass only counts as VISIBLE when three things are true at once: the station is above our horizon, it is still in sunlight up there, and it is dark enough down here. That is why the ones you can see cluster in the hour or two after sunset and before sunrise, while the station itself goes over roughly every ninety minutes, day and night.
- Fri, Sep 11 · 10:53 PMNot visibleAppearsSHighest14.2° SEVisible for9 min 0 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Sat, Sep 12 · 12:29 AMExcellentAppearsWSWHighest55° NNWVisible for10 min 0 sec
- Sat, Sep 12 · 2:07 AMFairAppearsWNWHighest13° NNWVisible for5 min 30 sec
It does not set — it flies into Earth’s shadow near NE and simply vanishes mid-sky.
- Sat, Sep 12 · 5:23 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest16.4° NNEVisible for9 min 0 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Sat, Sep 12 · 7:00 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest79.6° WNWVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Sat, Sep 12 · 11:41 PMNot visibleAppearsSWHighest82.2° ESEVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Sun, Sep 13 · 1:19 AMFairAppearsWHighest16.7° NNWVisible for7 min 30 sec
It does not set — it flies into Earth’s shadow near NE and simply vanishes mid-sky.
- Sun, Sep 13 · 4:35 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest12.7° NNEVisible for9 min 0 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Sun, Sep 13 · 6:12 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest52.7° NNEVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Sun, Sep 13 · 7:49 AMNot visibleAppearsWNWHighest14.5° SWVisible for9 min 0 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Sun, Sep 13 · 10:54 PMNot visibleAppearsSWHighest44.4° SEVisible for10 min 0 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Mon, Sep 14 · 12:31 AMFairAppearsWHighest22.8° NNWVisible for10 min 0 sec
- Mon, Sep 14 · 3:48 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest10.4° NNEVisible for8 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Mon, Sep 14 · 5:25 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest32.5° NNEVisible for10 min 0 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Mon, Sep 14 · 7:02 AMNot visibleAppearsWNWHighest25.1° SWVisible for9 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Mon, Sep 14 · 10:07 PMNot visibleAppearsSSWHighest24.7° SEVisible for10 min 0 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Mon, Sep 14 · 11:43 PMNot visibleAppearsWSWHighest33.2° NWVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Tue, Sep 15 · 1:22 AMFairAppearsWNWHighest10.5° NVisible for7 min 0 sec
It does not set — it flies into Earth’s shadow near NE and simply vanishes mid-sky.
- Tue, Sep 15 · 4:37 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest22.2° NNEVisible for9 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Tue, Sep 15 · 6:14 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest45° SSWVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Tue, Sep 15 · 9:20 PMNot visibleAppearsSHighest14.2° SEVisible for9 min 0 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Tue, Sep 15 · 10:56 PMNot visibleAppearsWSWHighest54.8° NWVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Wed, Sep 16 · 12:34 AMFairAppearsWNWHighest13° NNWVisible for9 min 0 sec
- Wed, Sep 16 · 3:50 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest16.4° NNEVisible for9 min 0 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Wed, Sep 16 · 5:26 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest76.5° SSEVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Wed, Sep 16 · 10:08 PMNot visibleAppearsSWHighest83.4° SEVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Wed, Sep 16 · 11:46 PMNot visibleAppearsWHighest16.7° NNWVisible for9 min 30 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Thu, Sep 17 · 3:02 AMLow in the skyAppearsNWHighest3° NNEVisible for30 sec
It does not set — it flies into Earth’s shadow near ENE and simply vanishes mid-sky.
- Thu, Sep 17 · 4:39 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest52.1° NNEVisible for10 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Thu, Sep 17 · 6:16 AMNot visibleAppearsWNWHighest14.5° SWVisible for9 min 0 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Thu, Sep 17 · 9:21 PMNot visibleAppearsSWHighest44.5° SEVisible for10 min 0 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Thu, Sep 17 · 10:58 PMNot visibleAppearsWHighest22.9° NNWVisible for10 min 0 sec
Overhead in daylight — too bright here to pick it out.
- Fri, Sep 18 · 2:14 AMLow in the skyAppearsNWHighest8.7° NNEVisible for3 min 0 sec
It does not set — it flies into Earth’s shadow near ENE and simply vanishes mid-sky.
- Fri, Sep 18 · 3:51 AMNot visibleAppearsNWHighest32.5° NNEVisible for10 min 0 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
- Fri, Sep 18 · 5:28 AMNot visibleAppearsWNWHighest25.1° SWVisible for9 min 30 sec
Overhead, but in Earth's shadow — nothing to reflect.
Times are computed here in Brandenburg by propagating orbital elements published by CelesTrak, using SGP4 — the same model the elements themselves are defined against. Directions are compass bearings: face that way and look up. Elevation is degrees above the horizon, where 90° is straight overhead and 30° is about a third of the way up.