Orbit: Satellite Pass Alerts

Star apps tell you what that star is called. Orbit tells you when to look up, and where. The Space Station rises in the northwest at 20:14 tonight, culminates 62° up at 20:19, and vanishes into the Earth's shadow low in the southeast at 20:23. Orbit answers that one question, and gives you the three numbers you actually need: when, which bearing, how high. POINT THE PHONE, FIND THE SATELLITE Turn until the marker meets the pointer on the compass dial, then raise the phone until the tilt bar lines up. The screen tells you "turn right 34°", "raise 12° higher", and lights up when you are on target. No AR, no camera required. REAL ORBITAL MECHANICS, NOT A LOOKUP TABLE A full SGP4 propagator runs on your phone — the same model the published element sets are designed to be used with. Rise, culmination and set are computed to the second, along with the moment the satellite crosses into the Earth's shadow and disappears. ONLY THE PASSES YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE A pass is worth walking outside for only when three things line up: the satellite is in sunlight, your own sky is dark, and it climbs high enough to clear the rooftops. Orbit checks all three, so nothing in the list sends you out for a satellite you could never have seen. GENUINELY OFFLINE — NO NETWORK PERMISSION AT ALL Not "we promise not to upload": this app does not hold the network permission, and you can verify that yourself in system settings. No account, no ads, no analytics SDK. Even location is optional — skip the permission and type your coordinates instead. HONEST ABOUT HOW FRESH THE ORBITAL DATA IS Element sets drift out of date, and most apps say nothing about it. Orbit labels every prediction with the age of the data and what that means for accuracy, and prompts you to refresh past 30 days. Refreshing means pasting in a block of public text — thirty seconds, and still no network connection. FREE · 8 headline targets: ISS, Tiangong, Hubble, Terra, Aqua, Envisat, Ajisai, AST BlueBird · Every visible pass in the next 48 hours · Sky-dome track chart with point-by-point bearing, elevation and range · Live compass and tilt alignment · Paste-in orbital data updates ORBIT PRO (one-time purchase, no subscription) · All 157 naked-eye-visible objects, including spent rocket stages and remote-sensing craft · Forecast window extended to 10 days · Import element sets for anything you care about · Show eclipsed and low 5° passes, for radio and telescope tracking SPOTTING TIP: the best windows are the hour or two after sunset and before sunrise — dark where you stand, still full sunlight where the satellite is. You are looking for a steady "star" gliding at a constant speed: no blinking, no turning. That is how you tell it from an aircraft. Orbital element sets come from public US Space Force data (public domain). Orbit is not affiliated with any space agency.