ISS passes tonight over Charlotte
No visible passes tonight. The station is not crossing a dark Charlotte sky between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM — see why below, and check back in a day or two.
International Space Station
NORAD 25544 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible ISS pass over Charlotte tonight — 1 pass in daylight or shadow.
1 pass you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 1:13 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 1:13 AM
- Highest
- 12° at 1:17 AM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 1:21 AM
Tiangong (China Space Station)
NORAD 48274 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Tiangong pass over Charlotte tonight — 2 passes in daylight or shadow.
2 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 12:18 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:18 AM
- Highest
- 39° at 12:23 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 12:28 AM
- 1:55 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 1:55 AM
- Highest
- 44° at 2:00 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 2:05 AM
Hubble Space Telescope
NORAD 20580 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Hubble pass over Charlotte tonight — 4 passes in daylight or shadow.
4 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 12:39 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:39 AM
- Highest
- 17° at 12:44 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 12:49 AM
- 2:18 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 2:18 AM
- Highest
- 27° at 2:23 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 2:28 AM
- 3:57 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 3:57 AM
- Highest
- 24° at 4:02 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 4:08 AM
- 5:37 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 5:37 AM
- Highest
- 11° at 5:42 AM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 5:46 AM
Orbital elements: CelesTrak, epoch 2026-09-01 11:57 UTC. Elevation-only predictor (no direction of travel); passes above 10°; darkness = sun below −6° at Charlotte; shadow check at each pass's peak. All times EDT. Computed 11:50 PM, refreshed every 30 minutes.
How to spot the ISS
- Be outside two minutes before the rise time with as much open sky as you can find. City lights are fine — the station outshines them.
- Look for a steady, un-blinking star moving about as fast as a high airliner. No flashing lights, no sound. If it blinks, it is a plane.
- It is brightest near the “highest” time on the card — that is when it is closest to you. Passes above 60° go almost overhead.
- If it fades out mid-sky, that is normal — it just flew into Earth's shadow. Wave anyway; the crew is up there.
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Frequently asked
How bright is the ISS?
On a high pass the International Space Station reaches magnitude −3 to −6 — brighter than any star and comparable to Venus — a steady white point that does not blink and makes no sound. Tiangong is a step dimmer (about −1 to −3) and Hubble is a faint, steady star (+1 to +2) that wants a dark sky. Our brightness hint uses peak elevation only: passes above 60° are the bright ones; below 30° the object stays low in haze.
Why do passes end abruptly?
A satellite is visible only while it is in sunlight and you are in darkness. When it flies into Earth's shadow it fades out over a few seconds — often still high in the sky. That is not cloud: it is orbital sunset. Passes an hour or two after dusk usually end this way; passes before dawn often begin this way, with the station appearing out of nothing overhead.
Why are there no passes over Charlotte some nights?
The ISS orbits at 51.6° inclination and its ground track drifts west about 22° each orbit, so it overflies Charlotte in runs of a week or two, then swings away for a similar stretch. Even when it does pass over, the sun angle has to line up so the station is lit while your sky is dark. Tiangong (41.5°) and Hubble (28.5°) never climb high for cities north of those latitudes — Charlotte is at 35.2°N, so Hubble stays low on the southern horizon here.