ISS passes tonight over Minneapolis
1 visible pass tonight. First up: ISS rising at 5:03 AM, peaking 65° up.
International Space Station
NORAD 25544 · epoch 2026-09-01- 5:03 AMWed, Sep 2Bright — hard to miss
- Rises
- 5:03 AM
- Highest
- 65° at 5:08 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 5:13 AM
3 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 12:11 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:11 AM
- Highest
- 67° at 12:16 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 12:21 AM
- 1:48 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 1:48 AM
- Highest
- 32° at 1:53 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 1:58 AM
- 3:26 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 3:26 AM
- Highest
- 27° at 3:31 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 3:36 AM
Tiangong (China Space Station)
NORAD 48274 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Tiangong pass over Minneapolis tonight — 2 passes in daylight or shadow.
2 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 11:15 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 11:15 PM
- Highest
- 40° at 11:20 PM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 11:25 PM
- 12:52 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:52 AM
- Highest
- 20° at 12:56 AM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 1:01 AM
Hubble Space Telescope
NORAD 20580 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Hubble pass over Minneapolis tonight.
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 Minneapolis; shadow check at each pass's peak. All times CDT. Computed 10:49 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 Minneapolis some nights?
The ISS orbits at 51.6° inclination and its ground track drifts west about 22° each orbit, so it overflies Minneapolis 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 — Minneapolis is at 45.0°N, so Tiangong stays low here and Hubble is rarely visible at all.