ISS passes · Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Visible ISS passes over Hong Kong
The next visible pass over Hong Kong starts on Sunday 1 November at 05:47 local time. The station appears in the north, climbs to 7° above the horizon and disappears towards the east after 8m 01s.
Computed 30 Oct 2026 22:06 UTC from orbital data of 29 Oct 2026 13:31 UTC. Rebuilt every day.
Visible ISS passes over Hong Kong in the next seven days
| Date | Start | Peak | End | Duration | Max elev. | Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday 1 November | 05:47 | 05:51 | 05:55 | 8m 01s | 7° low | N → E |
| Tuesday 3 November | 05:47 | 05:52 | 05:58 | 10m 23s | 25° | NNW → ESE |
| Wednesday 4 November | 05:00 | 05:05 | 05:10 | 9m 28s | 14° low | NNW → ESE |
| Thursday 5 November | 05:49 | 05:54 | 05:59 | 10m 54s | 68° | NW → SE |
| Friday 6 November | 05:01 | 05:06 | 05:12 | 10m 51s | 52° | NW → SE |
| Saturday 7 November | 05:51 | 05:55 | 06:00 | 9m 28s | 15° low | WNW → S |
All times are local (Asia/Hong_Kong), 24-hour clock. “Direction” is where the station enters and leaves the sky. Only passes where the Sun is at least 6° below the horizon and the station itself is in sunlight are listed — the ones you can actually see.
The best pass of the week is on Thursday 5 November: it starts at 05:49 in the NW, peaks at 68° in the SW around 05:54, and is over by 05:59. That is the one to put a reminder on.
How to watch it from Hong Kong
- Go out two minutes early. The station moves fast enough that a late start usually means you catch only the end of the pass.
- Face the direction in the table. On an ascending pass it travels roughly west-southwest to east-northeast; on a descending pass the other way round.
- No equipment needed. A bright pass looks like a steady white dot, brighter than any star, crossing the sky in about 10m 54s without blinking. Binoculars make it bigger but not more interesting.
- Give your eyes a minute. Look away from street lights and phone screens; the station is easy to see even from a city centre, but a dark spot makes the pass unmistakable.
- Watch the colour. Low passes near the horizon can turn orange or red as sunlight filters through the atmosphere — the same effect as a sunset, because that is exactly what you are seeing.
Why the ISS skips Hong Kong for weeks at a time
Seeing the station needs two things at once: it has to be above your horizon, and it has to be sunlit while your sky is dark. The station orbits at 51.6° inclination, so from Hong Kong (22.3° north) its ground track shifts west every orbit. For a week or two the evening passes line up with the twilight window and you get a run of good sightings; then the geometry drifts and the station is only up there during the day.
Hong Kong's latitude puts the station almost overhead on many passes; the best ones run over the South China Sea towards the north-east, away from the worst of the harbour light.
How these times are calculated
Every number on this page comes from the current CelesTrak two-line element set (TLE), propagated with SGP4 — the same model NASA and most tracking apps use — and converted to your local horizon with a full topocentric correction. The element set used here is from 29 October 2026, 13:31 UTC. A TLE is good for a few days; over a week the predicted times can drift by a minute or so, and a reboost of the station shifts everything by a few seconds. Check the live tracker on the day itself.
Nearby cities
- ISS passes over Shenzhen (27 km)
- ISS passes over Guangzhou (129 km)
- ISS passes over Wuhan (920 km)
- ISS passes over Hangzhou (1066 km)
- ISS passes over Chongqing (1108 km)
- ISS passes over Shanghai (1227 km)
Questions
Can I see the ISS from Hong Kong tonight?
Yes — the next visible pass is on Sunday 1 November at 05:47 local time.
How bright is it?
On a pass above 40° the station is typically magnitude −3 to −4, comparable to Venus and bright enough to be followed easily from a lit street. A 15° pass near the horizon is dimmer, more like a bright star, and easier to mistake for an aircraft — but aircraft blink and the station does not.
Does it make a sound?
No. At 400 km the station is far above the atmosphere you hear, and it travels faster than sound could carry anything towards you.
Page generated 31 October 2026, 06:06 (Asia/Hong_Kong). Data: CelesTrak TLE, SGP4 propagation, local horizon correction.