Satellites Tonight

Can I see Starlink tonight in Mackay, Queensland?

No visible passes tonight.

Next good chance: Sunday 11 Oct at 5:11 am, looking north-northwest.

Updated Times in local time (AEST)-21.15°, 149.17°
Next pass · Sunday 11 Oct
Appears
5:11 am
north-northwest, 10°
Highest
5:13 am
25° north-northeast
Fades
5:13 am
north-northeast, 25°
NESW
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 2 satellitesLaunch 2026-225 · 28 September 2026

The next 8 nights at a glance

13 visible passes
dark skytraineasy (mag ≤ 3.5)moderate (≤ 4)faint (≤ 5)

Pass times, night by night

start · path · brightness

Tonight · Wednesday 7 Oct

dark 6:26 pm – 5:16 am
No visible passes tonight.

Thursday 8 Oct – Friday 9 Oct

no visible passes

Saturday 10 Oct

dark 6:27 pm – 5:13 am
5:11 amto 5:13 am · 2 min
NNW → NNE, highest 25° NNEappears north-northwest at 10°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 2

Sunday 11 Oct

dark 6:28 pm – 5:12 am
4:19 amto 4:21 am · 2 min
NNE → ENE, highest 18° NNEappears north-northeast at 17°, low at the top
≈ mag 5 · faintTrain · 1
4:34 amto 4:53 am · 19 min
NNW → E, highest 33° NNEappears north-northwest at 17°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 22

Monday 12 Oct

dark 6:28 pm – 5:11 am
4:23 amto 4:26 am · 3 min
N → E, highest 38° NNEappears north at 37°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 3.5 · easyTrain · 1
4:37 amto 4:40 am · 4 min
NNW → ESE, highest 53° NNEappears north-northwest at 33°, high at the top
≈ mag 3 · easyTrain · 1
4:51 amto 5:11 am · 20 min
WNW → ESE, highest 88° Eappears west-northwest at 20°, almost overhead at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 22

Tuesday 13 Oct

dark 6:28 pm – 5:10 am
3:42 amto 4:01 am · 19 min
E → E, highest 30° ENEappears east at 14°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 14
4:40 amto 4:44 am · 4 min
W → ESE, highest 66° Sappears west at 29°, high at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 1
4:55 amto 4:59 am · 5 min
W → SE, highest 49° SSWappears west at 16°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 3 · easyTrain · 1
5:04 amto 5:10 am · 7 min
W → SE, highest 39° SSWappears west at 12°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 3.5 · easyTrain · 7

Wednesday 14 Oct

dark 6:29 pm – 5:10 am
3:41 amto 3:57 am · 16 min
ESE → ESE, highest 29° ESEappears east-southeast at 16°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 11
4:01 amto 4:24 am · 23 min
ESE → ESE, highest 60° SSWappears east-southeast at 36°, high at the top
≈ mag 3 · easyTrain · 14
4:57 amto 5:01 am · 5 min
WSW → SE, highest 28° SSWappears west-southwest at 13°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 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 Mackay

Mackay is at 21.2°S. Tonight the sky is dark enough from 6:26 pm until 5:16 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 13 visible passes (0 in the evening, 13 before dawn); 10 of them should be easy to spot (estimated magnitude 4 or brighter).

The best one is on Tuesday 13 Oct at 4:51 am: it appears in the west-northwest, climbs to 88° in the east and fades in the east-southeast at about magnitude 2.5.

The passes come from these launches:

Satellites from launch 2026-219 (20 September 2026) are also low and bright, but they do not pass over Mackay while it is dark and they are sunlit in this period.

Questions

Can I see Starlink tonight in Mackay?

No visible passes tonight. Next good chance: Sunday 11 Oct at 5:11 am, looking north-northwest.

When is the next Starlink train over Mackay?

Sunday 11 Oct at 5:11 am: 2 satellites from launch 2026-225, appearing in the north-northwest and reaching 25°.

Which direction should I look for Starlink from Mackay?

This week most passes appear in the north-northwest or west. Each pass above lists where it appears, how high it climbs and where it fades.

Nearby cities

All of Queensland →
Rockhampton 283 kmTownsville 324 kmGladstone 369 kmBundaberg 526 kmHervey Bay 589 kmCairns 591 km

Also tonight: the ISS

ISS pass times for Mackay →

No visible pass of the International Space Station tonight. Next chance: Thursday 8 Oct at 6:56 pm, looking northwest. The space station is far brighter than Starlink satellites, so it is often the easier thing to spot.

Before you go out

ISS tonight in MackayHow to spot StarlinkWhat the Starlink train isWhy some nights have nothing