Satellites
Spacecraft bright enough to see without a telescope. They look like steady points of light gliding across the sky, usually shortly after dusk or before dawn.
Spacecraft in SkyMate
How to see a satellite pass
A satellite shines by reflecting sunlight, so you see it when your sky is dark but the spacecraft, a few hundred kilometers up, is still in sunshine. That happens for an hour or two after sunset and before sunrise. A pass lasts a few minutes: a steady point of light, with no blinking lights, moving smoothly across the sky, sometimes fading out in mid-sky as it enters Earth’s shadow.
Pass times depend strongly on where you are, and orbits change, so predictions are only good for a few days ahead. Open the International Space Station for upcoming passes. In the app, SkyMate can remind you a few minutes before a bright pass and point you to where it will appear.