Satellites Visible from Amsterdam
Tonight
Satellite viewing from Amsterdam on the night of 24 August 2026 is rated POOR NIGHT: 2 visible ISS, Tiangong or Hubble passes, the best reaching 66° above the horizon. The best window for satellite spotting over Amsterdam on 24 August 2026 is 21:15–23:52 and 03:18–05:55 CEST, when most satellites are still catching sunlight. Between those windows the sky is dark but the majority sit inside Earth’s shadow. Individual satellites in lower orbits can be visible a little outside these times. The best ISS pass from Amsterdam on 24 August 2026 starts at 05:46 CEST, rises in the WSW, peaks 66° above the horizon and sets in the E, lasting about 6 minutes.
At 9pm local on 24 August 2026, no naked-eye planets are above the horizon from Amsterdam. Planets rise and set like the stars, so the picture changes through the night and across the year.
Amsterdam (52.4°N) — a mid-latitude position that gets frequent, favourably-angled passes year-round.
Amsterdam sits at 52.4°N — just above the ISS's 51.6° inclination, so the station climbs high but never overhead — about 80° at best. Hubble never clears the horizon here. The bigger catch is the season: near midsummer Amsterdam has no astronomical darkness at all — the white nights — so a genuinely dark sky only returns from late summer.
Evening twilight stretches very late in midsummer. Best months: September–March, when the nights are long and properly dark. Avoid June and early July — at 52.4°N the sun never dips the 18° below the horizon needed for astronomical darkness, so a truly dark sky never arrives.
🛰 SEE SATELLITES OVER AMSTERDAM NOWSATELLITE SPOTTING FROM AMSTERDAM
When can I see the ISS from Amsterdam?
The ISS is visible during twilight, and at 52.4°N it climbs high but not overhead — up to about 80° elevation. At magnitude −4 it's easily visible over the city. Amsterdam runs on CET, so clocks shift between winter and summer. The one exception is high summer: from late May to mid-July the sky barely darkens enough for a clear pass.
What satellites are visible from Amsterdam?
Amsterdam can see the ISS (magnitude −4), China's Tiangong, the Hubble Space Telescope (never visible from this latitude), AST BlueBirds, and Starlink trains after a fresh launch. Hubble's low orbit keeps it close to the southern horizon from this latitude.
Where is the best place to watch satellites in Amsterdam?
In the city, the Amsterdamse Bos, the Vondelpark and the open polder edges give sky away from the brightest streets. For darker conditions, head out to the Lauwersmeer National Park, a certified dark-sky park in the north (around 170km NE, Bortle 4), or the quieter polders of Flevoland, which are much darker than the Randstad.
Can I see satellites from central Amsterdam?
Yes for the ISS and Tiangong — they cut through the city glow from any open spot like the Vondelpark or an IJ waterfront. For BlueBirds and Starlink trains, head out to the Diemerpark, the Amstelpark or Lauwersmeer National Park.
Does Amsterdam's latitude help?
At 52.4°N Amsterdam sits just above the ISS's 51.6° inclination, so passes top out around 80° rather than overhead — higher than Berlin, but short of London, which sits just inside the inclination and does reach the zenith. The trade-offs are the high-summer white-night gap and Amsterdam's frequent cloud cover.
What is the best season for satellite spotting in Amsterdam?
September through March for the long dark nights, with the clearest transparency in crisp dry-season high pressure. June is the worst — no astronomical darkness at all — and November to January can be persistently grey.
Amsterdam is the cultural origin of the orbital-mirror concept and sits in the coverage zone for EARENDIL-1, Reflect Orbital's first commercial space mirror. Track space-mirror passes on OrbitalSolar.ai →
WHAT'S VISIBLE FROM HERE
From Amsterdam (52.4°N) you have access to a wide range of satellites: