Track the weather satellites watching Earth right now
Every forecast you read starts in orbit. Cosmik tracks the fleet live: NOAA's polar orbiters sweeping the whole planet from ~850 km up, and the GOES satellites parked 35,786 km above the equator staring at the same hemisphere around the clock.
Open the live map → Search “NOAA” or “GOES” in Cosmik.
NOAA weather satellites at a glance
- Polar orbiters: NOAA-15/18/19 + JPSS at ~850 km, sun-synchronous
- Geostationary: GOES-East & GOES-West at 35,786 km
- Polar orbital period: ~102 minutes
- Geostationary period: 23 h 56 min — fixed over one spot
- Operator: NOAA (US)
Can you see NOAA weather satellites with the naked eye?
The polar orbiters are occasionally visible as faint moving stars during twilight passes; geostationary satellites are far too distant. The fun is in the 3D view — polar orbits stitching a full map of Earth every day while GOES hangs motionless over the equator.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between NOAA and GOES satellites?
NOAA polar orbiters fly low (~850 km) and scan the entire planet strip by strip; GOES satellites sit in geostationary orbit (35,786 km) and continuously watch one hemisphere — that's where live hurricane imagery comes from.
Can I receive images from NOAA satellites myself?
Yes — NOAA-15, 18 and 19 broadcast APT images openly around 137 MHz; hobbyists decode them with a cheap RTL-SDR dongle and a simple antenna. Cosmik tells you when a satellite is overhead so you know when to record.
Related satellites
- HADES-SA (SO-127) — tiny ham-radio satellite tracker
- Iridium satellite tracker — live constellation map
- Starlink Constellation — How Many Satellites Are There?
- Hubble Space Telescope — orbit, facts & visible passes
- Tiangong tracker — see China's space station live
- GPS Satellite Tracker — the constellation live in 3D
Track more satellites
The ISS · Starlink · Hubble Space Telescope · Tiangong space station · GPS satellites · HADES-SA (SO-127) · Iridium satellites · all 20,000+ objects — see how many satellites are in orbit, track Starlink, or check upcoming rocket launches.
