Satellites Visible from Shanghai
Tonight
Satellite viewing from Shanghai on the night of 24 August 2026 is rated GREAT NIGHT: 3 visible ISS, Tiangong or Hubble passes, the best reaching 74° above the horizon. The best window for satellite spotting over Shanghai on 24 August 2026 is 18:44–20:11 and 03:01–04:52 GMT+8, 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 pass of the night is picked from live orbital data — the one that climbs highest and stays visible longest.
At 9pm local on 24 August 2026, no naked-eye planets are above the horizon from Shanghai. Planets rise and set like the stars, so the picture changes through the night and across the year.
Shanghai (31.2°N) — a mid-latitude position that gets frequent, favourably-angled passes year-round.
Shanghai sits at 31.2°N, comfortably inside the ISS's 51.6° inclination, so the station passes directly overhead at up to 90°. This low latitude is a bonus for Hubble too — it climbs to about 58°, high in the south and comfortably visible on a clear pass. The limit is light: central Shanghai is Bortle 8–9, so the ISS, Hubble, Tiangong, bright planets and Starlink trains are what cut through.
Evening twilight stretches very late in midsummer. Best months: late autumn through winter (November–February), when the humid subtropical summer gives way to drier, clearer continental air. The wet, hazy summer is the hardest season for transparency.
🛰 SEE SATELLITES OVER SHANGHAI NOWSATELLITE SPOTTING FROM SHANGHAI
When can I see the ISS from Shanghai?
The ISS is visible during twilight, and at 31.2°N it can climb almost overhead — up to 90° elevation. At magnitude −4 it's easily visible over the city. Shanghai runs on CST (UTC+8) all year — China has not observed daylight saving since 1991, so pass times never shift seasonally. 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 Shanghai?
Shanghai can see the ISS (magnitude −4), China's Tiangong, the Hubble Space Telescope (about 58°, high in the south), AST BlueBirds, and Starlink trains after a fresh launch. Hubble sits reasonably higher here than at European latitudes, so it clears the murk near the horizon.
Where is the best place to watch satellites in Shanghai?
In the city, Century Park, Gongqing Forest Park and the open Bund waterfront give the widest sky away from the brightest streets. For darker conditions, head out to Chongming Island (around 60km, Bortle 4–5) or the rural areas of Qingpu and Dianshan Lake to the west, where the coastal sky is markedly darker.
Can I see satellites from central Shanghai?
Yes for the ISS and Tiangong — they cut through the city glow from any open spot like Gongqing Forest Park or the Huangpu riverside. For BlueBirds and Starlink trains, head out to the Bund, the Botanical Garden or Chongming Island.
Does Shanghai's latitude help?
At 31.2°N Shanghai sits just under the ISS's 51.6° inclination, so passes can climb almost overhead (90°) — better geometry than London or Berlin. The trade-off is Shanghai's frequent cloud cover rather than darkness — full astronomical night arrives here all year.
What is the best season for satellite spotting in Shanghai?
September through March for the long dark nights, with the clearest transparency in crisp dry-season high pressure. June is the weakest month simply because the nights are short — and November to January can be persistently grey.
Shanghai 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 Shanghai (31.2°N) you have access to a wide range of satellites: