You just saw something — a bright steady light gliding silently across the sky, or maybe a line of dots moving in formation. Was it the ISS? A Starlink train? A plane? A meteor?
OrbitalNodes.ai scans over 400 satellites in real time, including the ISS, Tiangong, Hubble, the 100 brightest objects in orbit, and 300 Starlink satellites. Tell us when you saw it, which direction you were looking, and what it looked like — and we'll identify it in seconds.
If it was a steady light that moved across the sky in 2-5 minutes, it was almost certainly a satellite. If it blinked, it was a plane. If it was a line of dots, that's a Starlink train. And if it was bright but didn't move — it's probably Venus or Jupiter.
🔍 IDENTIFY WHAT YOU SAWYes — dozens of satellites are bright enough to see without any equipment. The ISS is the brightest, appearing as a fast-moving star that crosses the sky in about 4 minutes. Starlink satellites are dimmer but often appear in groups.
A "string of pearls" — a line of evenly spaced dots moving together across the sky. This happens in the first few days after SpaceX launches a new batch, before the satellites spread out to their operational orbits.
Satellites are steady — they don't blink or flash. Planes have blinking red and white lights. Satellites also move faster and don't make any sound. If it blinked, it was a plane.
The satellite moved into Earth's shadow. Satellites are only visible when they're in sunlight while you're in darkness — during twilight. When a satellite enters the shadow, it vanishes instantly. This is completely normal.
Almost certainly a planet — Venus or Jupiter. They look like very bright stars low on the horizon. Unlike satellites, planets don't move across the sky in real time. Our identifier checks for planets in your direction too.
Open OrbitalNodes.ai and tap "What Was That?" — enter the approximate time you saw it, which direction it was moving, and what it looked like. The app cross-references every satellite that was above your horizon at that moment and gives you a match within seconds. It works best within an hour of the sighting while your memory is fresh.
Not yet — there are currently no orbital mirrors in space. Russia's Znamya programme ended in 1999 and no commercial mirror has launched since. If you saw something unusually bright and steady, it was almost certainly the ISS, a Starlink satellite, or a bright planet. Could it be a space mirror? OrbitalSolar.ai → tracks when the first commercial mirror — EARENDIL-1 — is expected to launch.