OrbitalNodes.ai

Live satellite tracking with plain-English directions

LIVE • YOUR SKY
Scanning your sky...
🌅 SATELLITE FORECAST
Calculating tonight's viewing window...
CONNECTING...
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Earth: NASA Blue Marble • TLEs: tle.ivanstanojevic.me • SGP4: satellite.js • ISS: WhereTheISS.at

Loading satellite positions...

Tonight's Sky

What else to look for beyond satellites.

🪐 PLANETS VISIBLE TONIGHT
Calculating planet positions...
🌑 UPCOMING ECLIPSES
Loading eclipse calendar...
🛰 MEGA CONSTELLATIONS

Other Constellations

Live overhead counts for the other major satellite constellations in orbit right now.

AMAZON LEO (KUIPER)
LEO broadband · ~630km · 51.9° · rebranded Nov 2025
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OVERHEAD NOW
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IN ORBIT
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ABOVE 15°
~6.3
AVG MAG
Growing rapidly. Targeting 3,236 total by 2029. FCC deadline extension requested.
CHINA QIANFAN
千帆 · LEO broadband · ~600km
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OVERHEAD NOW
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IN ORBIT
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ABOVE 15°
~6.1
AVG MAG
China's "Thousand Sails" — 126+ in orbit and growing rapidly. 15,000 satellites planned. Exceeds IAU brightness limits.
Loading constellation data...
🔍 IDENTIFY

What Was That?

Saw something moving across the sky? Tell us when and where, and we'll figure out what it was.

WHEN DID YOU SEE IT?
WHICH DIRECTION?
WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE?
Searching from: detecting your location...
📖 BEGINNER FRIENDLY

Learn to Spot Satellites

No telescope needed. Here's everything you need to know.

WHAT SATELLITES LOOK LIKE

A satellite looks like a steady, bright dot moving smoothly across the sky — like a slow-moving plane but with no blinking lights. It takes 2–5 minutes to cross from horizon to horizon.

They're brightest during twilight (just after sunset or before sunrise) when the sky is dark but the satellite is high enough to still catch sunlight.

Starlink satellites sometimes appear as a "train" of dots in a line shortly after launch, before they spread out to their operational orbits.

MEASURING THE SKY WITH YOUR HANDS
Hold your arm straight out. Your closed fist covers about 10° of sky. Your spread hand (pinky to thumb) covers about 20°. The horizon to straight up is 90° — that's 9 fists stacked.
SATELLITE vs PLANE vs STAR

Satellite: Steady light, moves smoothly, no blinking. Crosses the sky in 2–5 minutes. May fade in or out as it enters Earth's shadow.

Plane: Has blinking red/green/white lights. Usually you can hear it if it's close enough to see clearly.

Star/Planet: Doesn't move (or moves very slowly over hours). Stars twinkle, planets don't.

🛰 WHY ORBITALNODES

Everything You Need to Spot Satellites

No app download. No account. No guesswork. Just open it, see what's overhead, and go outside.

Live Positions

Real-time satellite positions on a 3D globe. Updates every 2 seconds — you can watch them move.

Plain-English Directions

"Look Northwest, halfway up" — not coordinates. Tells you exactly where to point your eyes.

Knows When to Look

Calculates your twilight window — tells you which passes are actually visible, not just overhead.

11,000+ Starlinks

Full constellation tracking with train detection. Know when a string of Starlinks is about to cross your sky.

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Tap when you see it!