Dark sky events › ISS tonight ›

ISS tonight in Ambleside (Lake District)

Not tonight. The next time you can see the ISS from Ambleside is tomorrow morning at 05:30, from the SSE, reaching 15° up and gone at 05:33 in the ESE (3 min).

Visible ISS passes, next 5 days9
Visible Tiangong passes0
Highest ISS pass52° up

Times are UK time (BST), worked out from the latest orbit data and updated every 30 minutes. Directions are where to look; height is degrees above the horizon (90° is straight up).

Where the ISS is now

The International Space Station (yellow) and Tiangong (pink) live, with the last 45 minutes of their path dotted and the next orbit solid. The ring around each one is where it stands 10° or more above the horizon right now, and the blue dot is Ambleside. Drag to spin the globe.

ISS: over 34.7°S 66.6°E, 427 km up · Tiangong: over 40.3°N 89.0°E, 385 km up

When to see the ISS from Ambleside

When	Appears	Highest	Disappears	Visible for
Tomorrow morning	05:30 from the SSE	15° Low	05:33 in the ESE	3 min
Tomorrow morning	07:04 from the SW	40° Very bright	07:11 in the E	6 min
Tuesday morning	06:18 from the SW	33° Bright	06:23 in the E	5 min
Wednesday morning	05:33 from the SSE	26° Bright	05:36 in the E	3 min
Wednesday morning	07:06 from the WSW	51° Very bright	07:13 in the E	7 min
Thursday morning	04:47 from the ESE	15° Low	04:48 in the E	1 min
Thursday morning	06:20 from the SW	47° Very bright	06:25 in the E	5 min
Friday morning	05:35 from the SSE	40° Very bright	05:38 in the E	3 min
Friday morning	07:08 from the W	52° Very bright	07:15 in the ESE	7 min

Tiangong over Ambleside

No visible Tiangong passes in the next five days.

How to watch

Be outside a couple of minutes early and face the direction it appears from. The station rises as a bright, steady point (planes blink, satellites don't) and climbs across the sky for a few minutes. Many passes end with it fading out in mid-sky as it slides into Earth's shadow. Binoculars show nothing more than a point, but a phone on a tripod with a 10 to 20 second exposure catches its trail.

Hills and buildings hide passes that stay low, under about 20°. For those, find an open view in that direction: a hilltop, a beach or a park.

Questions

Can I see the ISS tonight in Ambleside?

Not tonight. The next time you can see the ISS from Ambleside is tomorrow morning at 05:30, from the SSE, reaching 15° up and gone at 05:33 in the ESE (3 min).

Where do I look for the ISS from Ambleside?

Look SSE at 05:30 tomorrow morning. It appears as a bright, steady star moving across the sky, with no flashing lights, and takes a few minutes to cross. It fades out when it enters Earth's shadow, often before reaching the horizon.

What is Tiangong?

Tiangong is China's space station. It orbits lower and at a lower angle to the equator than the ISS, so from the UK it stays lower in the southern sky and is fainter, but it is still easy to see with your eyes on a good pass.

Why can I only see the ISS on some nights?

You see it by reflected sunlight, so it has to be sunlit while your sky is dark. That only happens near dawn and dusk, and only in spells of a week or two each month, when its orbit lines up with your evening or morning sky. In midsummer the UK can see it all night, because the sky never gets fully dark and the station stays in sunlight.

ISS tonight elsewhere

More for the night sky: meteor shower tonight · Milky Way and dark nights · aurora forecast · dark sky calendar.