China’s “Heavenly Palace” can look like a brilliant star gliding silently overhead—and you do not need a telescope to see it.
LOOK UP! One of the brightest objects moving through the night sky this week is not a planet, an airplane or a meteor.
It is Tiangong, China’s permanently crewed space station, sweeping around Earth with three people aboard.
When conditions are right, Tiangong can be surprisingly easy to spot from parts of Canada and the United States. It appears as a bright, steady point of light moving smoothly from one side of the sky to the other. There are no flashing navigation lights, no sound and usually no visible trail.
All you really need is a clear sky—and the exact time and direction to look.
Important: Space-station predictions are location-specific. A pass visible from New York may be low, brief or completely invisible from Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles or another city. Always enter your own location before using the times.
Tiangong viewing guide at a glance
What you will see: A bright, steadily moving “star”
What you need: Your eyes—no telescope required
Best time: Usually within a few hours after sunset or before sunrise
How long it lasts: Often two to six minutes
How fast it moves: Noticeably faster than an airplane appears to cross the sky
What makes it visible: Sunlight reflecting from the station’s modules and enormous solar arrays
Night Sky Guy tip: Go outside at least 10 minutes early. Space-station predictions are precise, and Tiangong will not wait for you to find your shoes!
What should Tiangong look like?
At first, you may mistake it for an unusually bright star near the horizon. But then it begins to move.
Tiangong should:
- Travel steadily across the sky without stopping or changing direction.
- Shine with a mostly constant light rather than blinking like an aircraft.
- Grow brighter as it climbs higher and comes closer to your location.
- Sometimes fade rapidly—or disappear completely—before reaching the opposite horizon.
That sudden disappearance is not a malfunction. It simply means the station has flown into Earth’s shadow. One moment it is brightly illuminated by sunlight; seconds later, the sunlight is blocked by our planet.
Spaceweather.com notes that Tiangong may occasionally show a subtle reddish tint, giving it an almost Mars-like appearance. Most observers, however, will see a bright white or slightly warm point of light. (Space Weather)
The wow factor: three people are inside that moving light
This is what makes a space-station flyby so special.
You are not just watching another satellite. You are looking at a working scientific laboratory with human beings living inside it, travelling nearly 28,000 kilometres per hour roughly 400 kilometres above Earth.
At that speed, Tiangong circles our planet approximately once every 90 minutes.
As of July 2026, the station is occupied by the three members of the Shenzhou-23 mission:
- Commander Zhu Yangzhu
- Astronaut Zhang Zhiyuan
- Payload specialist Li Jiaying, also known by her Cantonese name, Lai Ka-ying
Li became the first astronaut from Hong Kong to travel into space. The crew arrived at Tiangong in May 2026. (Xinhua News)
So, when you spot that point of light racing overhead, pause for a moment and think about it: three people are riding inside it, looking back at the same planet you are standing on.
What exactly is Tiangong?
The name Tiangong translates roughly as “Heavenly Palace.”
It is China’s first long-duration modular space station and one of only two continuously operating crewed stations currently circling Earth.
Its main structure consists of three large modules:
Tianhe is the central core containing the crew’s main living and command areas.
Wentian and Mengtian are laboratory modules used for scientific research and technology experiments.
Tiangong normally carries a crew of three, although it can temporarily accommodate six during crew handovers. Its current orbit is approximately 392 by 395 kilometres above Earth, inclined about 41.5 degrees to the equator. (The Planetary Society)
How to find Tiangong flybys for your location
The screenshots below show how to begin at Spaceweather.com and use its Flybys section to reach the location-based predictions supplied through Heavens-Above.
The process looks slightly old-fashioned, but it works extremely well once your location is set correctly.
Step 1: Open Spaceweather.com and select “FLYBYS”
Go to the Spaceweather.com homepage and look along the red navigation bar near the top of the page.
Select FLYBYS.
On a phone, you may need to zoom in, rotate the screen or scroll across the page to see all the navigation options.
Spaceweather.com highlighted the current sequence of bright Tiangong flybys and directs skywatchers toward location-based tracking tools. (Space Weather)
Suggested caption:
Begin at Spaceweather.com and select “FLYBYS” from the navigation menu.
Step 2: Set your exact observing location
Select Change your observing location.
You now have several ways to tell the website where you will be watching.
Option A: Use the map
Zoom into your area and click directly on your approximate observing location. The position marker should move to the new spot.
This method is quick and usually accurate enough for visual skywatching.
Option B: Search for your city or town
Enter your community’s name in the search box below the map and select the correct result.
This is often the easiest method for beginners.
Try adding the province, state or country when communities share the same name—for example:
Miami, Florida, USA
rather than simply:
Miami
Option C: Enter latitude and longitude
For the most precise results, enter your observing site’s latitude and longitude manually.
This is especially useful when watching from:
- A cottage
- A campground
- A rural dark-sky site
- A park outside town
- A location not recognized by the search tool
Latitude north of the equator is entered as a positive number. Longitudes west of Greenwich are usually entered as negative numbers.
Check the time zone
Make sure the listed time zone matches your location, including daylight saving time when applicable.
This is critical. A correct position with the wrong time zone can produce a pass time that is off by an hour—or more.
Finally, select Update.
Night Sky Guy tip: After updating, look at the top-right corner of the next page. Confirm that it displays your intended location and local time.
Suggested caption:
Set your location by clicking the map, searching for a community or entering precise latitude and longitude coordinates.
Step 3: Choose Tiangong from the satellite list
The Flybys link brings you to a Heavens-Above prediction page.
Under Configuration, first check the observing location displayed at the top of the page. Never assume the website has automatically chosen the correct city.
Under 10-day predictions for satellites of special interest, select:
Tiangong
Do not accidentally choose the ISS. The International Space Station and Tiangong are two different orbiting laboratories with completely different pass times.
Suggested caption:
Select “Tiangong” under the list of satellites of special interest—but set your location first.
Step 4: Read the visible-passes table
After selecting Tiangong, you will see a table of predicted flybys for approximately the next 10 days.
Each row represents a separate pass.
Here is how to read the columns.
Date
The evening or morning of the pass.
Select the date itself to open a detailed sky chart.
Brightness
The predicted apparent magnitude.
The magnitude scale runs backward: the lower or more negative the number, the brighter the object.
A pass listed at –2.2 should be conspicuous in a clear sky, even from many suburban locations. A pass near 0.0 is much dimmer but can still be seen when you know where to look.
For a first attempt, choose one of the brightest passes available.
Start
This tells you when Tiangong becomes practically visible, along with its altitude and direction.
For example:
10° W
means the station should appear about 10 degrees above the western horizon.
An easy way to estimate 10 degrees is to hold your closed fist at arm’s length. The width of your fist covers roughly 10 degrees of sky.
Highest point
This is when Tiangong reaches its greatest altitude during the pass.
A maximum altitude of:
- 20° is fairly low.
- 40° to 60° is a good, prominent pass.
- 80° to 90° means the station will pass almost directly overhead.
The closer it comes to the overhead point, the faster it may seem to move.
End
This shows when and where the visible portion of the pass finishes.
The station may drop behind your horizon, disappear behind buildings or trees, or enter Earth’s shadow while still high in the sky.
Azimuth
Azimuth tells you the compass direction:
- N: north
- NE: northeast
- E: east
- SE: southeast
- S: south
- SW: southwest
- W: west
- NW: northwest
You may also see combinations such as WNW, meaning west-northwest, or ESE, meaning east-southeast.
Suggested caption:
The visible-passes table gives the date, brightness, start direction, maximum altitude and end point for each flyby.
Step 5: Select the date to open the sky chart
Select the date of your chosen pass.
The circular chart represents your entire sky.
The outer edge is the horizon. The centre represents the point directly overhead, known as the zenith.
The line crossing the chart shows Tiangong’s predicted path. Time labels along the line show where the station should be at different moments.
Look for:
- The arrow indicating the direction of travel
- Compass directions printed around the chart’s edge
- Time markers along the path
- The station’s maximum altitude
- Whether it sets or enters Earth’s shadow
Heavens-Above provides both the summary table and the detailed star chart for each selected pass. (Heavens-Above)
Suggested caption:
The circular chart shows the station’s route across your sky. The edge is the horizon, while the centre is directly overhead.
Reading the sample pass shown in the screenshots
The attached example is set for a location in the northeastern United States. These times are only an illustration and should not be used for another city.
For the sample pass on July 14:
- Tiangong reaches 10 degrees above the western horizon at approximately 10:27:26 p.m.
- It climbs rapidly and passes almost directly overhead at approximately 10:30:40 p.m.
- Its predicted peak brightness is magnitude –2.2
- At approximately 10:31:04 p.m., it enters Earth’s shadow while still 67 degrees above the eastern horizon
That means the observer should begin looking low in the west shortly before 10:27 p.m., then follow the station as it climbs across the sky.
The most dramatic moment comes near 10:30 p.m., when it passes overhead and appears to move especially quickly. Less than half a minute later, it abruptly disappears in the east—not because it has flown away, but because it has entered nighttime at orbital altitude.
My best tips for a successful sighting
Choose an unobstructed observing spot
A backyard may work perfectly, but make sure trees, houses and power lines do not block the station’s starting direction.
For a low pass, an open park, field or waterfront can make the difference between seeing Tiangong and missing it.
Arrive early
Be outside at least 10 minutes before the listed start time.
Use those minutes to:
- Identify the correct compass direction
- Let your eyes adjust
- Check the sky for clouds
- Explain to everyone where the station will first appear
- Put away bright phone screens
Use a compass app—but lower the screen brightness
A phone compass can help identify west, southwest or another starting direction. Once you know where to look, dim the screen or put the phone away.
Start low, then scan upward
Tiangong may be difficult to spot when it first appears close to the horizon because it must shine through haze, humidity and light pollution.
It usually becomes much easier to see as it climbs higher.
Do not expect to see the station’s shape
To your unaided eyes, Tiangong will remain a point of light. You will not see its modules, windows or solar panels.
Binoculars may reveal that the light is not perfectly point-like, but they are difficult to aim at such a fast-moving target. For a first observation, your naked eyes provide the best view.
Keep watching if it briefly dims
Its brightness may fluctuate as the station’s orientation changes and sunlight reflects differently from its solar arrays.
A brief dimming does not necessarily mean the pass is over.
How to photograph the flyby
A smartphone video is usually easier than trying to capture a single photograph.
Set your phone to its standard 1× wide view, brace it against something solid and begin recording before the station arrives. Avoid zooming in digitally—you are likely to lose the moving target.
For a long streak across the stars, use a camera on a tripod with a wide-angle lens and an exposure of several seconds. Tiangong will appear as a continuous line, while an airplane usually creates a dotted or dashed trail from its flashing lights.
Remember to watch with your own eyes too. It is easy to spend the entire pass staring at a screen and miss the real experience happening overhead.
Why evening and morning passes are best
Tiangong does not produce its own visible light. We see it because sunlight strikes the station while the observer below is standing in darkness.
That geometry is most common during the hours after sunset and before sunrise.
In the middle of the night, the station often passes through Earth’s shadow and receives no direct sunlight. During the daytime, it may be illuminated, but the bright blue sky overwhelms it.
This is why visible flybys tend to arrive in clusters. You may have several opportunities over successive evenings, followed by a period when no favourable passes occur.
Look up—and wave!
A Tiangong flyby is simple skywatching at its best.
No telescope. No special knowledge. No dark-sky expedition.
Just find your local prediction, step outside at the right moment and watch a human outpost cross the sky.
And while the taikonauts cannot see you waving from 400 kilometres away, go ahead and wave anyway.
Then come back and tell me:
Where did you watch from, and did you spot China’s Heavenly Palace?
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