ISS Pass Times for Manchester
This page shows when the International Space Station will next be visible from Manchester, United Kingdom. Every pass is computed live from the latest orbital elements with the same SGP4 engine that runs the live tracker — never a canned schedule — and all times are shown in Manchester’s local clock (Europe/London).
Manchester sits at 53.5°N — right at the northern edge of the ISS’s 51.6°-tilted orbit. The station can still rise high and give excellent sights, but it never passes directly over the zenith, and good passes tend to arrive in short bursts of a few nights. Visible passes follow the same rule everywhere on Earth: the station has to be lit by the sun while the ground below it is in twilight or darkness, which is why the next visible pass below is always either just after sunset or just before sunrise — and why some nights have none at all.
Next visible ISS pass
Computed for 53.481°, -2.243° in Europe/London.
Upcoming ISS passes over Manchester
Times are local in Manchester (Europe/London). "Dim" passes are technically in shadow — the station parts of a dim pass can still appear right at dawn or dusk when the sun catches it.
| Date | Local time | Duration | Max elevation | Direction | Visibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computing passes… | |||||
Track the ISS over Manchester
Follow the station’s live path and ground track on the interactive map. Use the button below to open the live tracker already centred on Manchester — or open the anywhere map and drag it yourself.
How to See the ISS from Manchester
You need no telescope or binoculars — the ISS is the third-brightest object in the sky. What you need is the time, the direction, and clear skies:
- Go out 5-10 minutes before the pass starts and give your eyes a minute to adapt.
- Face the direction listed at pass start (e.g. "start NNW") and look slightly up.
- The station looks like a bright, steady, non-blinking star moving in a straight line — not a plane, which blinks and is slower.
- Higher maximum elevations are easier: passes below about 15° can hide behind buildings, trees, or the horizon glow.
The full beginner’s walkthrough is on the how to see the ISS page; if the weather looks wrong on a pass night, the try-again advice on reading a pass prediction explains what to change.
ISS visibility information
For Manchester the useful extras are the geometry above and the 51.6° orbital inclination: the station can never pass directly over any spot outside a band roughly 51.6° either side of the equator, which shapes how high a pass here can climb. Visible or not, the station is only above your horizon for the few minutes a pass lasts — usually 2 to 6 minutes, longer the closer it passes to overhead. Around Manchester, the highest passes recur for a few consecutive nights at a time before the ground track shifts west, so check again in a day or two if tonight is quiet.
If you want an “any city” answer rather than a fixed one, use the visible tonight finder, which works with your exact coordinates and your own time zone.
