ISS passes tonight over San Diego
No visible passes tonight. The station is not crossing a dark San Diego 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 San Diego tonight — 2 passes in daylight or shadow.
2 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 10:05 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 10:05 PM
- Highest
- 37° at 10:10 PM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 10:15 PM
- 11:42 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 11:42 PM
- Highest
- 19° at 11:47 PM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 11:52 PM
Tiangong (China Space Station)
NORAD 48274 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Tiangong pass over San Diego tonight — 4 passes in daylight or shadow.
4 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 9:10 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 9:10 PM
- Highest
- 21° at 9:15 PM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 9:19 PM
- 10:48 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 10:48 PM
- Highest
- 18° at 10:52 PM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 10:57 PM
- 12:25 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:25 AM
- Highest
- 42° at 12:30 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 12:35 AM
- 2:02 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 2:02 AM
- Highest
- 26° at 2:07 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 2:12 AM
Hubble Space Telescope
NORAD 20580 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Hubble pass over San Diego tonight — 4 passes in daylight or shadow.
4 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 11:10 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 11:10 PM
- Highest
- 15° at 11:15 PM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 11:20 PM
- 12:49 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:49 AM
- Highest
- 33° at 12:54 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 1:00 AM
- 2:28 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 2:28 AM
- Highest
- 42° at 2:34 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 2:39 AM
- 4:08 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 4:08 AM
- Highest
- 25° at 4:13 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 4:19 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 San Diego; shadow check at each pass's peak. All times PDT. Computed 7:51 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.
Get launch alerts
Night launches from Vandenberg are visible from San Diego. One email a day before, an hour before, and at liftoff — no account.
Want an email before each visible pass at your exact coordinates? Pass alerts live in the alert center with a free account.
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 San Diego some nights?
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 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 — San Diego is at 32.7°N, so Hubble stays low on the southern horizon here.
Other cities
Can you see a rocket launch from San Diego? · What's overhead right now · Live satellite tracker