Now

What the shapes mean

Each satellite is drawn by what it does, pointing the way it is moving.

  • Space stations
    GCAT category SS, over 15 t
    —
  • Crew and cargo ships
    GCAT category SS, up to 15 t
    —
  • Broadband constellations
    Communications below the geostationary ring, or a constellation name GCAT has not listed yet
    —
  • Geostationary communications
    Communications once around per day
    —
  • Navigation
    GCAT category NAV
    —
  • Earth imaging and weather
    GCAT IMG, MET and EOSCI
    —
  • Radar imaging
    GCAT IMG-R
    —
  • Signals intelligence and early warning
    GCAT SIG and EW
    —
  • CubeSats
    GCAT bus CubeSat, or under 25 kg at launch
    —
  • Rocket bodies
    CelesTrak name ending R/B (bright list and recent launches)
    —
  • Debris
    CelesTrak name containing DEB
    —
  • Everything else
    Science, technology tests and objects GCAT has not classed
    —

Colours and states

Lit by the Sun: visible when it's dark where you are
In Earth's shadow
Selected, with its path
Zoomed out: dots

Mission categories and military class come from GCAT (J. McDowell, CC BY 4.0). When several fit, the first match wins: station, CubeSat, navigation, signals, radar, imaging, comms. Satellites too new for GCAT use their constellation name (Starlink, Qianfan…) or fall under "everything else". Debris and most rocket bodies need the Space-Track account. Satellite types are unavailable right now, so no counts are shown.