Satellites Overhead Screensaver
The Satellites Overhead screensaver is a live world map of the satellites crossing overhead right now — the ISS, Starlink and more — propagated from fresh orbital elements published by CelesTrak. It's free, key-less, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
How the Satellites Overhead screensaver works
The saver downloads up-to-date orbital elements (TLEs) from CelesTrak, the public catalogue of tracked satellites, with no key required.
For every satellite it propagates the orbit to the current second, solving Kepler's equation and rotating the orbit into Earth-fixed coordinates.
The sub-satellite point — the spot on Earth each satellite is directly above — is plotted on a world map, with the ISS highlighted and labelled.
Positions are recomputed every frame so the dots sweep across the map in real time, with optional orbit trails behind them.
A worked example
Choose the brightest-satellites group and dozens of dots streak west-to-east across the map, the ISS among them with its own label. Switch to Starlink and a whole constellation marches across in formation, each one propagated from its real orbit.
Settings & tips
- Group chooses brightest visible satellites, space stations, or Starlink.
- Orbit trails draws a short fading tail behind each satellite.
- Satellite color recolours the dots and trails.
Frequently asked questions
- Are the satellites really there?
- Yes. Positions are propagated from real, recently-published orbital elements, so the dots show where those satellites actually are over Earth.
- How accurate are the positions?
- It uses a fast two-body propagation, accurate enough for a live moving map but not for precise pass predictions — for that, use a dedicated tracker.
- Does it need a key?
- No. CelesTrak's orbital elements are free and key-less; the saver only needs an internet connection to refresh them.
- Why are there so many Starlink satellites?
- SpaceX's Starlink is a large constellation of thousands of satellites, so that group fills the map with dots.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.