Week in Space Data, every Friday.
When can I see the ISS pass over San Diego tonight? On Wednesday 14 October 2026, the ISS is visible from San Diego at 5:53 AM PDT: it appears out of Earth's shadow, already 14° up in the southwest and reaches 87° above the horizon.
California: 32.72°N, 117.16°W (city centre). Recomputed every 15 minutes. Nothing on this page is sponsored.
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Wed 14 Oct, PDT (12:53 UTC)
5:53 AM: it appears out of Earth's shadow, already 14° up in the southwest, climbs to 87°, nearly overhead in the west at 5:56 AM, then drops below 10° in the northeast at 6:00 AM.
4:42 AM: it appears out of Earth's shadow, already 20° up in the east-southeast (its highest point while you can see it), then drops below 10° in the east-southeast at 4:44 AM.
No account. At most one sky email a day. Only ISS passes at least 40° high in a dark sky, and launches you could really see from your place. Never sent, and never about anything, between 11 PM and 6 AM your time unless you ask for late-night alerts. No email on nights with nothing to see.
Waxing crescent, 12% lit
Up at sunset; sets .
At dusk it is 12° up in the southwest.
First quarter: Sun 18 Oct at
Jupiter magnitude −1.9
Up from to ; highest while dark (51°) in the east-southeast at .
Sunset . Dark enough for the ISS from . Fully dark to . Sunrise . Times are PDT unless you switch to UTC.
Satellite passes: CelesTrak orbital elements (we download them at most every 6 hours) propagated with SGP4; checked against Heavens-Above for 31 visible ISS passes over six cities (26 to 29 September 2026), start, highest point and end agreed within 5 seconds (usually 1 to 3) and height within half a degree, except that our darkness rule can start a twilight pass a few minutes later than Heavens-Above does. Times drift by up to a minute or two when elements are several days old or after the station changes its orbit, so we time passes only a few days ahead. A pass counts as visible when, at some point 10° or more above your horizon, the Sun is at least 6° below your horizon and the satellite is in sunlight; times and heights describe that visible part, and brightness is estimated from distance and sunlight angle. Moon and planets: computed with astronomy-engine. Launches: times to the minute only, within 400 km of the pad. Aurora: NOAA SWPC Kp and storm forecast, with an approximate geomagnetic latitude. Newest elements: epoch 2026-10-12 21:44 UTC. Computed 6:22 AM PDT.
Night launches from Vandenberg are visible from San Diego. A day before, an hour before, if the launch time moves, and when it flies. No account needed.
Want an in-app or phone notification before each visible pass at your exact coordinates? Pass alerts are free with a SpaceNexus account: set them up in the alert center.
A good ISS pass reaches magnitude −2 to −4, brighter than any star; at its best only the Moon and Venus outshine it. A low or distant pass can be as faint as magnitude 0. It is a steady white point that does not blink and makes no sound. Tiangong is a step dimmer (about −1 to −3 on a high pass) and Hubble is a faint, steady star (about +1.5 to +2.5) that wants a dark sky. We estimate the brightness of each pass from its distance and the angle of sunlight on it, the method Heavens-Above uses, and our figures land within about half a magnitude of theirs.
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. We show where and when each pass fades.
The ISS orbits at 51.6° inclination and its ground track drifts west about 22° each orbit, so it overflies San Diego in runs of a week or two, then swings away for a similar stretch. Even when it does pass over, the Sun has to line up so the station is lit while your sky is dark. On nights with none, this page gives the next visible pass when there is one in the next three days; further out, pass times drift too much to print.
They are computed for San Diego's coordinates with astronomy-engine, an open-source ephemeris checked against NASA JPL data to about an arcminute, so rise and set times are good to about a minute. A planet is listed when it is at least 10° above the horizon while the Sun is more than 6° below it.
west, 87° up
Drops low
northeast, 10° up
Drops low
east-southeast, 10° up
4:58 AM: it appears out of Earth's shadow, already 28° up in the east (its highest point while you can see it), then drops below 10° in the east-southeast at 4:59 AM.
5:53 AM: it appears out of Earth's shadow, already 14° up in the southwest, climbs to 87°, nearly overhead in the west at 5:56 AM, then drops below 10° in the northeast at 6:00 AM.
6:16 AM: it comes into view low in the west-southwest, climbs to 24°, low in the south-southwest at 6:20 AM, then drops below 10° in the southeast at 6:23 AM.
Saturn magnitude +0.3
Up from to ; highest while dark (59°) in the south at .
Mars magnitude +1.0
Up from to ; highest while dark (63°) in the east-southeast at .
Not in a dark sky tonight: Mercury, Venus.