ISS passes · Los Angeles, United States
Visible ISS passes over Los Angeles
The next visible pass over Los Angeles starts on Friday 30 October at 06:11 local time. The station appears in the north-west, climbs to 18° above the horizon and disappears towards the east after 9m 59s.
Computed 29 Oct 2026 16:43 UTC from orbital data of 28 Oct 2026 11:12 UTC. Rebuilt every day.
Visible ISS passes over Los Angeles in the next seven days
| Date | Start | Peak | End | Duration | Max elev. | Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday 30 October | 06:11 | 06:16 | 06:21 | 9m 59s | 18° | NW → E |
| Saturday 31 October | 05:24 | 05:28 | 05:33 | 9m 17s | 12° low | NNW → E |
| Sunday 1 November | 05:13 | 05:18 | 05:24 | 10m 52s | 48° | NW → ESE |
| Monday 2 November | 04:25 | 04:30 | 04:36 | 10m 31s | 28° | NW → ESE |
| Tuesday 3 November | 05:14 | 05:20 | 05:25 | 10m 46s | 44° | NW → SSE |
| Thursday 5 November | 05:16 | 05:21 | 05:26 | 9m 09s | 13° low | WNW → S |
All times are local (America/Los_Angeles), 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 Sunday 1 November: it starts at 05:13 in the NW, peaks at 48° in the NE around 05:18, and is over by 05:24. That is the one to put a reminder on.
How to watch it from Los Angeles
- 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 52s 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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles (34.1° 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.
From the United States the station can pass almost overhead on a good night, and it is usually the brightest moving object in the sky.
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 28 October 2026, 11:12 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 Vancouver (1740 km)
- ISS passes over Chicago (2804 km)
- ISS passes over Toronto (3494 km)
- ISS passes over New York (3936 km)
- ISS passes over Dublin (8305 km)
- ISS passes over Manchester (8504 km)
Questions
Can I see the ISS from Los Angeles tonight?
Yes — the next visible pass is on Friday 30 October at 06:11 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 29 October 2026, 09:43 (America/Los_Angeles). Data: CelesTrak TLE, SGP4 propagation, local horizon correction.