Satellites Tonight

Can I see Starlink tonight in Brakpan?

No visible passes tonight.

Next good chance: Tuesday 13 Oct at 4:27 am, looking north.

Updated Times in local time (SAST)-26.24°, 28.37°
Next pass · Tuesday 13 Oct
Appears
4:27 am
north, 17°
Highest
4:53 am
30° north-northeast
Fades
4:57 am
east-northeast, 10°
NESW
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 24 satellitesLaunch 2026-225 · 28 September 2026

The next 8 nights at a glance

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

Pass times, night by night

start · path · brightness

Tonight · Wednesday 7 Oct

dark 6:33 pm – 5:15 am
No visible passes tonight.

Thursday 8 Oct – Saturday 10 Oct

no visible passes

Sunday 11 Oct

dark 6:35 pm – 5:11 am
4:46 amto 4:51 am · 5 min
N → ENE, highest 15° NNEappears north at 11°, low at the top
≈ mag 5 · faintTrain · 2
5:04 amto 5:08 am · 4 min
NNW → ENE, highest 21° NNEappears north-northwest at 11°, low at the top
≈ mag 4.5 · faintTrain · 1

Monday 12 Oct

dark 6:36 pm – 5:10 am
4:27 amto 4:57 am · 30 min
N → ENE, highest 30° NNEappears north at 17°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 24

Tuesday 13 Oct

dark 6:36 pm – 5:09 am
4:27 amto 4:31 am · 3 min
N → E, highest 34° NNEappears north at 30°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 3.5 · easyTrain · 1
4:47 amto 5:09 am · 22 min
NW → E, highest 69° NNEappears northwest at 19°, high at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 21

Wednesday 14 Oct

dark 6:37 pm – 5:08 am
3:36 amto 4:05 am · 29 min
ENE → E, highest 34° NEappears east-northeast at 12°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 4 · moderateTrain · 19
4:10 amto 4:12 am · 2 min
NE → E, highest 41° NEappears northeast at 41°, halfway up at the top
≈ mag 3.5 · easyTrain · 1
4:44 amto 4:49 am · 5 min
WNW → ESE, highest 80° NWappears west-northwest at 20°, almost overhead at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 1
5:01 amto 5:08 am · 7 min
W → ESE, highest 66° SWappears west at 11°, high at the top
≈ mag 2.5 · brightTrain · 5

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 Brakpan

Brakpan is at 26.2°S. Tonight the sky is dark enough from 6:33 pm until 5:15 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 9 visible passes (0 in the evening, 9 before dawn); 7 of them should be easy to spot (estimated magnitude 4 or brighter).

The best one is on Thursday 15 Oct at 4:44 am: it appears in the west-northwest, climbs to 80° in the northwest 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 Brakpan while it is dark and they are sunlit in this period.

Questions

Can I see Starlink tonight in Brakpan?

No visible passes tonight. Next good chance: Tuesday 13 Oct at 4:27 am, looking north.

When is the next Starlink train over Brakpan?

Monday 12 Oct at 4:46 am: 2 satellites from launch 2026-225, appearing in the north and reaching 15°.

Which direction should I look for Starlink from Brakpan?

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

Nearby cities

All of South Africa →
Benoni 7 kmBoksburg 11 kmGermiston 21 kmThembisa 30 kmJohannesburg 33 kmRandburg 40 km

Before you go out

How to spot StarlinkWhat the Starlink train isWhy some nights have nothing