Every position on this page is computed live in your browser from published orbital elements — no tracking server, just the same math flight controllers use.
Live subpoints — the spot on Earth directly beneath each spacecraft. The shaded region is night; the line trailing the selected satellite is one full orbit's ground track. Notice how it shifts west each revolution: the orbit stays put while Earth turns underneath it.
Equirectangular projection: straight lines of latitude and longitude, which is why orbits — circles in space — appear as waves.
Six spacecraft worth knowing. Click one to put its ground track on the map.
The next five times the station climbs above 10° at your location. To actually see it you need three things at once: the station overhead, the station in sunlight, and you in darkness — the planner checks all three.
Set your location on the dashboard — the planner uses the same saved observer.
Each satellite's orbit is published as a TLE (two-line element set) by Celestrak, updated daily from US Space Force tracking. Your browser propagates those elements with SGP4 — the standard orbital model since the 1980s — via the open-source satellite.js, and checks visibility by testing whether the station is inside Earth's shadow while your sky is dark. Nothing here touches a server after the TLEs load.