Tiangong · Xi'an, China
Tiangong passes over Xi'an
The next visible Tiangong pass over Xi'an starts on Monday 2 November at 18:15 local time. The station rises in the west-north-west, climbs to 25°, and sets towards the east after 10m 00s. Xi'an gets 6 naked-eye passes in the next seven days.
Computed 01 Nov 2026 11:02 UTC from orbital data of 01 Nov 2026 00:08 UTC. Rebuilt every day.
Visible Tiangong passes over Xi'an in the next seven days
| Date | Start | Peak | End | Duration | Max elev. | Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday 2 November | 18:15 | 18:20 | 18:25 | 10m 00s | 25° | WNW → E |
| Tuesday 3 November | 18:52 | 18:57 | 19:02 | 10m 23s | 47° | WNW → ESE |
| Thursday 5 November | 18:29 | 18:34 | 18:39 | 10m 29s | 83° | WNW → ESE |
| Friday 6 November | 19:06 | 19:11 | 19:16 | 9m 55s | 26° | WNW → SE |
| Saturday 7 November | 19:44 | 19:47 | 19:51 | 7m 08s | 6° | W → S |
| Sunday 8 November | 18:43 | 18:48 | 18:52 | 8m 58s | 14° | W → SSE |
All times local, 24-hour clock. Only passes with the Sun at least 6° below the horizon and the station itself sunlit are listed — the ones you can actually see.
The best pass of the week is on Thursday 5 November: rising at 18:29 in the WNW, peaking at 83° in the NNE around 18:34, over by 18:39. That is the one to put a reminder on.
Why Tiangong is a good target from Xi'an
Tiangong's orbit is inclined 41.47°, so its ground track never reaches further north than 41.5° latitude. Xi'an sits close to that band, which is why the station regularly climbs to 70–90° here instead of skimming the horizon the way it does from northern Europe. A near-overhead pass is not brighter, but it is longer, crosses the whole sky, and is far harder to miss behind a building or a tree.
At around 100 tonnes it is roughly a quarter of the ISS mass, and peaks at magnitude 0 to +1 rather than −4: a steady, unblinking point, dimmer than the ISS but unmistakable once you know where to look.
How the times are calculated
Every number comes from the current two-line element set, propagated with SGP4 and converted to the local horizon with a full topocentric correction. The element set used here is from 01 November 2026, 00:08 UTC. A TLE stays accurate for a few days; reboosts shift the times by seconds, so check the live tracker on the day itself.
Other Chinese cities
- Tiangong passes over Beijing
- Tiangong passes over Shanghai
- Tiangong passes over Guangzhou
- Tiangong passes over Shenzhen
- Tiangong passes over Chengdu
- Tiangong passes over Chongqing
- Tiangong passes over Hangzhou
- Tiangong passes over Wuhan
- Tiangong passes over Tianjin
- Tiangong passes over Hong Kong
Questions
Can I see Tiangong from Xi'an tonight?
Yes — the next visible pass is on Monday 2 November at 18:15 local time.
Is it brighter than the ISS?
No. The ISS reaches −4; Tiangong is about 0 to +1. What Tiangong has from China is altitude: more passes, higher in the sky.
Do I need binoculars?
No. Tiangong is a naked-eye object on any pass above ~30°; binoculars only make the dot slightly larger.