Satellites Visible from
Toronto Tonight

At 43.7°N Toronto gets excellent ISS passes reaching up to 74° elevation. The CN Tower makes a useful compass landmark for tracking direction. The ISS orbits at a 51.6° inclination, meaning it passes within 51.6° of the equator on each orbit. From Toronto at 43.7°N this creates frequent high-elevation passes overhead when the geometry aligns.

April–May and August–October before winter cold sets in. June: twilight extends very late — near solstice darkness barely arrives before midnight. Satellites are only visible when your sky is dark but the satellite is still in direct sunlight — the twilight window of approximately 50–80 minutes after sunset in spring/autumn. Outside this window satellites are either invisible in daylight or in Earth's shadow.

City sky — heavy light pollution. The ISS and Tiangong are bright enough to see from central Toronto regardless of light pollution. Individual Starlinks are fainter — best spotted from suburbs or nearby dark sky areas. Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Preserve (~160km), Killarney Provincial Park (~250km) offer significantly darker skies.

At any given moment, 8–11 Starlinks above horizon at any time are above Toronto's horizon. During twilight the sunlit ones are visible to the naked eye. Freshly launched Starlink trains — groups of 20–60 satellites in tight formation — are particularly spectacular and visible for several days after each SpaceX launch. OrbitalNodes.ai detects trains automatically and shows which direction to look.

The ISS can be tracked rising over Lake Ontario in the SW and crossing above the CN Tower toward the northeast. Use the compass on your phone to orient yourself before the pass — knowing which direction is SW or NW before it starts makes a big difference. The OrbitalNodes app gives you plain-English directions updated every 2 seconds.