Live picture
3D satellite tracker: Starlink and beyond
Why are the dots moving?
Each dot is a Starlink satellite. They fly around Earth at about 27,000 km per hour, so each one circles the planet in roughly an hour and a half.
The map does not show a photo of right now. It takes each satellite’s last known path and calculates where it should be at this second. That is how every satellite tracker works.
The paths come from CelesTrak, a public source that collects orbital data. We download them once a day.
It is like knowing a train left at 9:00 at 100 km/h. You do not need a photo to know roughly where it is at 9:30.
CelesTrakHow to use the map
Mouse and keyboard
- Drag Earth to rotate; scroll to zoom.
- Click a satellite to select it. Ctrl-click or Command-click adds or removes one.
- Shift-click a satellite to add or remove its visible launch batch from manual selection.
- Click empty space to clear manual selections.
- Click the satellite icon for data, the loaded number for layer visibility, or the circled icon for selected objects.
- Use the date info button for Tracked launches; drag its dashed cursor or slider to choose a date.
- Escape closes a popup or exits fullscreen. Tab moves between controls; arrow keys adjust focused sliders.
Touch controls
- Drag with one finger to rotate; pinch with two fingers to zoom.
- Tap a satellite to select it; use Add to selection in its details for multiple objects.
- Press and hold Earth to drop a location pin.
- Layers and View open controls; Back to page returns to the other information.
More about the map
The markers show satellites with available orbital data at their estimated positions now. Colors identify estimated Starlink versions, other constellations or catalog-verified object types. Rocket-body and debris layers download in the background but start hidden. These are calculations from orbital elements, not live photographs.
On narrow rectangular phones, this page opens in a dedicated map view. Layers, View and Back to page stay at the bottom. Back to page hides the globe so you can read the other information; Show on map opens it again. Tap the details icon for the selected satellite to inspect it. Layers contains constellations, launch groups, rocket bodies and debris. Non-payload objects have no service coverage cones and are shown only in Live view; their catalog launch date is not a debris formation date. View contains zoom, rotation, trails, orbit lines and location controls.
Scroll or pinch to zoom and drag to look around. Dragging pauses the slow turn for eight seconds; zooming does not. Selecting a satellite holds the turn until you clear the selection. If your device requests reduced motion, use View → Start turning to begin rotating.
Click or tap a marker to select it. Use its details icon to inspect the name and orbital estimate. Its orbit and ground coverage follow your display settings. Ctrl-click or Command-click adds or removes satellites from your selection; Add to selection also supports touch. Click empty space to clear manual selections. Show other satellites in Layers switches between your selection and the surrounding enabled objects. The loaded number opens constellation visibility; its header checkbox enables or hides all constellations.
Press and hold a spot on Earth to place a person there, or use your location or typed coordinates in Satellites above you. Clear person removes that location. Above-horizon and within-reach highlights follow the constellations currently enabled on the map and their elevation settings.
Layers lets you show or hide Starlink versions, OneWeb, Amazon Kuiper, Qianfan, Iridium and GPS, and change age, batch, coverage and trail settings. Other constellations replay when cataloged launch dates are available. The full-screen button expands the globe; Escape or the same button brings the page back.
The date on the map is the displayed Starlink source snapshot date, or the chosen replay day, not a measure of orbital accuracy. Check a satellite’s orbital epoch and the Orbital estimate age filter for estimate freshness. Download status details explain partial, updating, saved-copy or unavailable data. Times follow your Preferences. Download source satellite data from CelesTrak.
Explore communication, navigation and Earth-observation constellations, including Starlink, OneWeb, GPS, Galileo and Sentinel satellites. Inspect orbital estimates, replay dated launch cohorts, find objects above your location or follow a satellite in ground view. Rocket-body and debris layers are available separately. Data sources and limitations.
How accurate is the map?
The paths are refreshed daily, and a satellite’s route changes slowly, so positions are good to a few kilometers for a day or two. At this zoom that is far smaller than a dot.
Satellites that have recently been launched or are being brought down can be a little further off. Nothing here is precise enough for anything except watching.
The count includes every object CelesTrak lists in its Starlink group, including satellites that are still climbing to their final orbit.
How this works, in one paragraph
Nobody photographs the satellites. Instead, public trackers publish each satellite’s path, a short set of numbers describing its orbit. Your browser uses those numbers to work out where each satellite is at this moment, sixty times a second. The paths are downloaded from CelesTrak once a day. Positions are estimates: accuracy depends on the age of each orbit record and manoeuvres since that epoch. Select a satellite to see its orbital epoch; download time alone is not an accuracy measure.