ISS passes tonight over San Francisco
2 visible passes tonight. First up: Tiangong rising at 9:09 PM, peaking 64° up.
International Space Station
NORAD 25544 · epoch 2026-09-01- 4:36 AMWed, Sep 2Faint — low on the horizon
- Rises
- 4:36 AM
- Highest
- 16° at 4:40 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 4:45 AM
3 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 10:06 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 10:06 PM
- Highest
- 13° at 10:10 PM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 10:15 PM
- 11:42 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 11:42 PM
- Highest
- 59° at 11:47 PM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 11:52 PM
- 1:20 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 1:20 AM
- Highest
- 13° at 1:24 AM
- Visible for
- 9 min · sets 1:29 AM
Tiangong (China Space Station)
NORAD 48274 · epoch 2026-09-01- 9:09 PMTue, Sep 1Bright — hard to miss
- Rises
- 9:09 PM
- Highest
- 64° at 9:14 PM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 9:19 PM
Tiangong is dimmer than the ISS — read the brightness one step down.
3 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 10:46 PMTue, Sep 1In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 10:46 PM
- Highest
- 41° at 10:51 PM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 10:56 PM
- 12:23 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:23 AM
- Highest
- 83° at 12:28 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 12:33 AM
- 2:00 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 2:00 AM
- Highest
- 20° at 2:05 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 2:10 AM
Hubble Space Telescope
NORAD 20580 · epoch 2026-09-01No visible Hubble pass over San Francisco tonight — 3 passes in daylight or shadow.
3 passes you will not see (daylight or Earth's shadow)
- 12:48 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 12:48 AM
- Highest
- 14° at 12:53 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 12:58 AM
- 2:27 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 2:27 AM
- Highest
- 19° at 2:32 AM
- Visible for
- 11 min · sets 2:38 AM
- 4:07 AMWed, Sep 2In Earth's shadow — unlit
- Rises
- 4:07 AM
- Highest
- 14° at 4:12 AM
- Visible for
- 10 min · sets 4:16 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 Francisco; 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.
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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 San Francisco some nights?
The ISS orbits at 51.6° inclination and its ground track drifts west about 22° each orbit, so it overflies San Francisco 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 Francisco is at 37.8°N, so Hubble stays low on the southern horizon here.