A starlink tracker tells you the exact minute a chain of satellites crosses your patch of sky. Most nights it will tell you there is nothing up there worth going outside for.
The train is only a real target in the days right after a launch, while the satellites still fly low and tightly packed. Here is how to read a tracker, and what is actually overhead this week.
What the satellite train actually is
SpaceX drops each batch into a low insertion orbit. The satellites then climb on their own thrusters toward the operational shell at roughly 550 km.
During that climb they trail each other in a rough line, and sunlight still catches them while the ground below has gone dark. That moving string of dots is the train.
SpaceX states its goal is for the satellites to be invisible to the naked eye once they are on station. The show ends when the climb does.
Read a tracker in six steps
findstarlink.com is the fastest free option. It is a fan project with no connection to SpaceX, which the site says plainly on its own homepage.
Video: Star Walk
- Set your location by place name, or punch in latitude and longitude.
- Pick your window: next 1 day, or next 3 days.
- Choose mornings only, evenings only, or both.
- Open the “Show from” menu and pick how old a chain you want: today, or 5, 9, 13, 17 or 20 days ago.
- Hit Find Visible Times and read the three buckets it returns, good, average and poor visibility.
- Check the magnitude number printed beside BRIGHT or DIM. Smaller means brighter.
Get outside about ten minutes early. The site warns its times can drift by roughly ten minutes, because these orbits change often and without notice.
Which chains are up right now
| Chain | Launched | Age | Satellites tracked | Height now | Flight phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starlink-419 (G15-27) | 20 Sep 2026, 01:47 UTC | 14 hours | 27 | about 256 km | Insertion orbit |
| Starlink-418 (G15-24) | 6 Sep 2026, 14:26 UTC | 14 days | 27 | about 337 km | Orbit raising |
| Starlink-417 (G15-23) | 2 Sep 2026, 08:42 UTC | 18 days | 15 | about 338 km | Orbit raising |
| Operational shell | n/a | n/a | n/a | about 550 km | On station |
Source: orbital elements served by findstarlink.com from CelesTrak’s SpaceX supplemental set, epoch 20 September 2026. Heights derived from the published mean motion. Operational altitude from Starlink’s own technology page.
The height column is the one to watch. Both older chains have already climbed about 80 km above where today’s batch sits, and all three are still well short of 550 km.
Why the newest launch is the one to chase
SpaceX’s own brightness mitigation document lists the flight phases where its satellites are expected to be visible. Two of them apply here.
The first is the opening orbits after the satellites separate from the rocket, while they stabilise and deploy antennas and solar arrays. The second is the orbit raise that follows.
In both phases the satellites cannot angle their solar arrays away from you. Once they reach station they can, and the chain quietly drops out of view.
Timing, speed and where to look
Aim for the first hours after dark, or the stretch before sunrise. Satellites are visible when they sit just past the terminator, the day and night boundary, and low satellites fall into Earth’s shadow soon after sunset.
Speed is what catches people out. The satellites cover close to 500 km every minute, so a pass is done in a couple of minutes and the same chain only comes back around every 90 minutes or so, a little further off each time.
None of this has anything to do with your own connection. If your streams stall while you are out in the yard, that is a home network problem, and raising your internet speed is a separate job.
Hardware sets the ceiling, so choosing a Wi-Fi router for your home is worth ten minutes of reading. Most of the settings that matter sit behind your router’s login page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see the Starlink train tonight?
Only if a launch went up in the last couple of weeks and a pass lines up with your own twilight window. Run your location through a tracker before you plan the evening around it.
Why does my tracker say DIM?
DIM means the pass may not be visible at all. The number next to it is brightness magnitude, and a smaller number means a brighter object.
Do Starlink satellites stay visible forever?
No. SpaceX aims for its satellites to be invisible to the naked eye at their operational altitude, so a chain fades as it finishes climbing and spreads out along its orbit.
