This is a timestamped scientific visualization, not a live camera, instantaneous GPS feed, or ISS attitude-telemetry display. Each source is labeled as observed, predicted, calculated, stale, or fallback below. All timestamps are shown in your local time zone.
ISS trajectory
- Status
- fallback
- Source
- Bundled, explicitly dated ISS record
- Prediction generated
- Not available
- Retrieved
- Not available
- Valid from
- Not available
- Valid through
- Not available
- Scene time
- Not available
NASA's EME2000/J2K vectors are predicted flight-dynamics data. The displayed station attitude is derived from the local vertical/local horizontal (LVLH) frame, not measured attitude telemetry. Two retained Solar Alpha Rotary Joint pivots and eight beta-gimbal pivots use calculated, rate-limited two-axis Sun tracking rather than mechanism telemetry. “Prediction generated” is when NASA produced the OEM trajectory prediction. It is not the page-load time, a measurement time, or instantaneous ISS telemetry.
Earth observations
- ISS illumination
- calculating
- Nadir illumination
- calculating
- Earth display exposure
- calculating
- Effective scene time
- Not available
Manifest resolved Not available. Clouds, snow, surface imagery, and nighttime-radiance dates remain independent because the products publish on different schedules.
- Seamless land and ocean
- fallback · Blue Marble Next Generation July 2004 seasonal composite · acquired 2026-07-23
- Current global clouds
- fallback · NASA Blue Marble cloud composite
- Current land snow cover
- fallback · bundled seasonal surface
- Nighttime radiance
- fallback · NASA VIIRS Black Marble 2016
Hourly global clouds and daily cloud-gap-filled VIIRS snow are processed away from visitor requests. A generation is published only after global coverage, longitude seam, no-data, and acquisition-stripe checks pass; otherwise the previous approved generation remains active. Snow changes land reflectance while preserving terrain detail, and Black Marble lights appear only on the calculated night side. ISS sunlight and the illumination at the surface directly below it are calculated independently; the station can remain sunlit after its nadir has crossed the terminator. Adaptive exposure lifts physical night detail for viewing without moving the calculated terminator.
Celestial calculations
- Status
- fallback
- Calculated
- Not available
- Method
- Astronomy Engine with ISS-relative EME2000 parallax, occultation, and observer aberration
The Sun, Moon, planets, stars, and Milky Way are rendered at their calculated directions. The Sun's limb-darkened photosphere keeps its true apparent angular diameter; the extended halo is photographic camera glare, not enlarged solar geometry. Planet markers are not enlarged; optional labels identify otherwise sub-pixel bodies. BSC5P stars remain in inertial J2000/EME2000 with proper motion and full observer aberration. Precession and nutation are applied only when converting true-of-date Earth or body frames, not as a physical rotation of the inertial sky.
What each status means
- observed
- A dated instrument observation from the named source.
- predicted
- A dated flight-dynamics or orbit prediction.
- calculated
- Calculated for the displayed instant from sourced data.
- stale
- Real sourced data that is older than its freshness limit.
- fallback
- A bundled, explicitly dated substitute for unavailable data.
Sources & provenance
- ISS trajectoryNASA Spot the Station / EME2000 OEMPredicted ISS state vectors published by NASA Mission Control, not instantaneous GPS telemetry.
- Earth observationsNASA SatCORPS, NSIDC VIIRS, and Blue MarbleQuality-gated global cloud and snow layers are published once for every visitor over a seamless photographic base.
- ISS modelNASA/JSC ISS (D) IGOALOfficial acquisition-configuration geometry, processed into web display levels of detail.
- Array kinematicsNASA Station Solar ArraysTwo-axis SARJ and beta-gimbal geometry informs calculated Sun tracking; no mechanism telemetry is claimed.
- Star catalogNASA HEASARC BSC5PMeasured bright-star positions, magnitudes, and proper motions retained in the inertial J2000 frame.
- EphemerisAstronomy EngineSolar-system ephemerides, supplemented by ISS parallax, full observer aberration, and occultation calculations.
- ValidationJPL HorizonsCommitted reference fixtures for all ten rendered bodies are checked against Horizons.
The ISS mesh represents the NASA/JSC acquisition configuration, which may differ from today's docked configuration. Lighting follows the calculated Sun direction. Its preserved SARJ and beta gimbals use calculated two-axis Sun tracking, not measured mechanism telemetry, operational parking commands, or a reconstruction of station power operations. The 150 m fly-around is a documented powered inspection path and does not represent a passive orbit. NASA, JSC, CelesTrak, JPL, and their partners do not endorse this site.