dark skytraineasy (mag ≤ 3.5)moderate (≤ 4)faint (≤ 5)
Pass times, night by night
start · path · brightness
Tonight · Wednesday 7 Oct
dark 6:37 pm – 5:32 am
No visible passes tonight.
Thursday 8 Oct
no visible passes
Friday 9 Oct
dark 6:38 pm – 5:30 am
5:03 amto 5:07 am · 4 min
N → ENE, highest 16° NNEappears north at 10°, low at the top
≈ mag 5 · faintTrain · 2
5:09 amto 5:13 am · 4 min
NNW → ENE, highest 19° NEappears north-northwest at 11°, low at the top
≈ mag 5 · faintTrain · 1
5:18 amto 5:23 am · 5 min
NNW → E, highest 24° NNEappears north-northwest at 12°, low at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 1
Saturday 10 Oct
dark 6:38 pm – 5:30 am
4:18 amto 4:38 am · 20 min
NE → NE, highest 18° NEappears northeast at 12°, low at the top
≈ mag 5 · faintTrain · 20
5:09 amto 5:14 am · 5 min
NW → E, highest 42° NNEappears northwest at 17°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 3 · easyTrain · 2
5:19 amto 5:24 am · 5 min
NW → ESE, highest 57° NNEappears northwest at 12°, high at the top
≈ mag 3 · easyTrain · 1
Sunday 11 Oct
dark 6:38 pm – 5:29 am
4:17 amto 4:18 am · 1 min
ENE → E, highest 19° ENEappears east-northeast at 19°, low at the top
≈ mag 5 · faintTrain · 1
4:32 amto 4:57 am · 25 min
NE → E, highest 63° NNEappears northeast at 34°, high at the top
≈ mag 3 · easyTrain · 22
5:14 amto 5:20 am · 6 min
WNW → SE, highest 63° Sappears west-northwest at 16°, high at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 2
Monday 12 Oct
dark 6:38 pm – 5:28 am
4:34 amto 4:36 am · 3 min
ESE → ESE, highest 73° ESEappears east-southeast at 73°, high at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 1
4:51 amto 5:19 am · 28 min
WSW → SE, highest 58° Sappears west-southwest at 47°, high at the top
≈ mag 3 · easyTrain · 22
5:20 amto 5:25 am · 6 min
W → SE, highest 25° SSWappears west at 12°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 2
Tuesday 13 Oct
dark 6:39 pm – 5:27 am
4:23 amto 4:24 am · 2 min
SE → SE, highest 28° SEappears southeast at 28°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 1
4:52 amto 4:55 am · 3 min
SW → SE, highest 29° SSWappears southwest at 25°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 1
5:11 amto 5:27 am · 17 min
WSW → SSE, highest 21° SSWappears west-southwest at 12°, low at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 15
Wednesday 14 Oct
dark 6:39 pm – 5:27 am
4:00 amto 4:28 am · 28 min
SE → SE, highest 24° Sappears southeast at 13°, low at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 20
4:36 amto 4:37 am · 2 min
S → SSE, highest 20° Sappears south at 20°, low at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 1
Magnitude is an estimate (lower = brighter; 3 is easy, 5 needs a dark sky). Predictions for satellites that are still raising their orbits can shift by a few minutes from one update to the next; check again before you go out. How we compute this.
Seeing Starlink from Cairns
Cairns is at 16.9°S. Tonight the sky is dark enough from 6:37 pm until 5:32 am. A Starlink satellite only shows when it is still in sunlight while you are in darkness, so the passes bunch up in the first hours after dusk and the last hours before dawn, not around midnight.
Over the next 8 nights we found 17 visible passes (0 in the evening, 17 before dawn); 8 of them should be easy to spot (estimated magnitude 4 or brighter).
The best one is on Tuesday 13 Oct at 4:34 am: it appears in the east-southeast, climbs to 73° in the east-southeast and fades in the east-southeast at about magnitude 2.5.
The passes come from these launches:
2026-225, launched 28 September 2026 (train, 26 satellites, now 296–315 km up): 17 passes here
Satellites from launch 2026-219 (20 September 2026) are also low and bright, but they do not pass over Cairns while it is dark and they are sunlit in this period.
Questions
Can I see Starlink tonight in Cairns?
No visible passes tonight. Next good chance: Sunday 11 Oct at 5:09 am, looking northwest.
When is the next Starlink train over Cairns?
Saturday 10 Oct at 5:03 am: 2 satellites from launch 2026-225, appearing in the north and reaching 16°.
Which direction should I look for Starlink from Cairns?
This week most passes appear in the north-northwest or northeast. Each pass above lists where it appears, how high it climbs and where it fades.