Satellites Tonight

Can I see Starlink tonight in Nairobi?

Yes — best chance 5:23 am, looking northwest.

It is the Starlink train: 4 satellites in a line. Visible from 5:23 am to 5:32 am, almost overhead in the sky (87°) at its highest; bright enough to see from a city.

Updated Times in local time (EAT)-1.28°, 36.82°
Tonight's best pass
Appears
5:23 am
northwest, 36°
Highest
5:29 am
87° west-southwest
Fades
5:32 am
east-southeast, 11°
NESW
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 4 satellitesLaunch 2026-225 · 28 September 2026

The next 8 nights at a glance

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

Pass times, night by night

start · path · brightness

Tonight · Wednesday 7 Oct

dark 6:46 pm – 5:55 am
5:23 amto 5:32 am · 9 min
NW → ESE, highest 87° WSWappears northwest at 36°, almost overhead at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 4
5:37 amto 5:55 am · 19 min
WNW → SE, highest 64° Sappears west-northwest at 17°, high at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 19

Thursday 8 Oct

dark 6:45 pm – 5:55 am
5:29 amto 5:37 am · 8 min
SW → SSE, highest 28° SWappears southwest at 26°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 3.5 · easyTrain · 3
5:39 amto 5:43 am · 4 min
WSW → SSE, highest 23° SSWappears west-southwest at 16°, low at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 1
5:50 amto 5:55 am · 5 min
WSW → SSE, highest 18° SSWappears west-southwest at 10°, low at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 4

Friday 9 Oct

dark 6:45 pm – 5:55 am
4:35 amto 4:55 am · 20 min
SE → SE, highest 20° SSEappears southeast at 13°, low at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 20
5:36 amto 5:37 am · 2 min
SW → SSW, highest 11° SSWappears southwest at 10°, low at the top
≈ mag 5 · faintTrain · 2

Saturday 10 Oct – Wednesday 14 Oct

no visible passes

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 Nairobi

Nairobi is at 1.3°S. Tonight the sky is dark enough from 6:46 pm until 5:55 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 7 visible passes (0 in the evening, 7 before dawn); 4 of them should be easy to spot (estimated magnitude 4 or brighter).

The best one is on Thursday 8 Oct at 5:23 am: it appears in the northwest, climbs to 87° in the west-southwest 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 Nairobi while it is dark and they are sunlit in this period.

Questions

Can I see Starlink tonight in Nairobi?

Yes — best chance 5:23 am, looking northwest. It is the Starlink train: 4 satellites in a line. Visible from 5:23 am to 5:32 am, almost overhead in the sky (87°) at its highest; bright enough to see from a city.

When is the next Starlink train over Nairobi?

Thursday 8 Oct at 5:23 am: 4 satellites from launch 2026-225, appearing in the northwest and reaching 87°.

Which direction should I look for Starlink from Nairobi?

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

Nearby cities

All of Kenya →
Ruiru 22 kmNakuru 136 kmKakamega 288 kmMombasa 442 km

Also tonight: the ISS

ISS pass times for Nairobi →

No visible pass of the International Space Station tonight. Next chance: Friday 9 Oct at 5:36 am, looking south-southwest. 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 NairobiHow to spot StarlinkWhat the Starlink train isWhy some nights have nothing