Israel's sky · City ranking
For each of 35 Israeli cities we count, night after night, how many Starlink trains, space station passes and bright satellites cross its dark sky. The differences between cities are small, because Israel is small, but they are there.
Nahariya saw the most satellites and space stations in Israel between October 30 and November 17: 468 naked-eye passes, against 428 in Eilat.
October 30, 2026 to November 17, 2026
We started keeping the count on October 30, 2026. Until 30 nights have built up, much of the ranking is a forecast for the coming days; it will settle as nights are added.
There are no visible Starlink trains over Israel in this period, so the ranking goes by space station and bright satellite passes.
| Rank | City | Starlink trains | ISS | Tiangong (China) | Bright satellites | All passes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nahariya | 0 | 13 | 10 | 445 | 468 |
| 2 | Hadera | 0 | 13 | 9 | 443 | 465 |
| 3 | Kiryat Shmona | 0 | 13 | 11 | 440 | 464 |
| 4 | Ashdod | 0 | 13 | 9 | 441 | 463 |
| 4 | Ashkelon | 0 | 13 | 9 | 441 | 463 |
| 4 | Haifa | 0 | 12 | 11 | 440 | 463 |
| 7 | Kfar Saba | 0 | 12 | 9 | 441 | 462 |
| 7 | Acre | 0 | 13 | 11 | 438 | 462 |
| 9 | Sderot | 0 | 13 | 9 | 439 | 461 |
| 9 | Tel Aviv | 0 | 13 | 8 | 440 | 461 |
| 11 | Herzliya | 0 | 12 | 8 | 440 | 460 |
| 11 | Ra'anana | 0 | 13 | 8 | 439 | 460 |
| 13 | Netanya | 0 | 12 | 10 | 437 | 459 |
| 13 | Petah Tikva | 0 | 12 | 8 | 439 | 459 |
| 15 | Holon | 0 | 12 | 8 | 438 | 458 |
| 15 | Rishon LeZion | 0 | 12 | 9 | 437 | 458 |
| 17 | Modi'in | 0 | 12 | 9 | 436 | 457 |
| 18 | Safed | 0 | 13 | 11 | 432 | 456 |
| 18 | Rehovot | 0 | 12 | 9 | 435 | 456 |
| 20 | Afula | 0 | 12 | 11 | 432 | 455 |
| 20 | Katzrin | 0 | 14 | 10 | 431 | 455 |
| 22 | Ariel | 0 | 13 | 10 | 431 | 454 |
| 22 | Tiberias | 0 | 13 | 10 | 431 | 454 |
| 24 | Karmiel | 0 | 13 | 10 | 430 | 453 |
| 25 | Beersheba | 0 | 11 | 9 | 432 | 452 |
| 25 | Nazareth | 0 | 12 | 11 | 429 | 452 |
| 27 | Ofakim | 0 | 11 | 8 | 429 | 448 |
| 28 | Beit She'an | 0 | 12 | 10 | 425 | 447 |
| 28 | Ma'ale Adumim | 0 | 12 | 10 | 425 | 447 |
| 30 | Jerusalem | 0 | 11 | 9 | 425 | 445 |
| 31 | Arad | 0 | 12 | 8 | 424 | 444 |
| 32 | Dead Sea | 0 | 11 | 9 | 423 | 443 |
| 33 | Mitzpe Ramon | 0 | 12 | 7 | 422 | 441 |
| 34 | Dimona | 0 | 12 | 8 | 418 | 438 |
| 35 | Eilat | 0 | 11 | 8 | 409 | 428 |
Every pass is worked out from CelesTrak's latest satellite orbits, with the same calculation behind "What's in Israel's sky tonight". A pass counts when the satellite climbs at least 15° above the horizon while sunlit and the city is already dark (the sun 6° or more below the horizon). Each city is one point at its centre.
A Starlink train is a group of at least 10 satellites from the same launch still flying in a line, and each train counts once. "Bright satellites" are large satellites from CelesTrak's list that pass at least 50° high. The space stations are the International Space Station and China's Tiangong.
Satellite orbits are only accurate around the time they're published, so old nights can't be worked out after the fact. Twice a day we work out tonight and the next six nights for every city; a night that has passed keeps the last count made for it, at most about half a day before. Nights still ahead are a forecast, and it gets updated.
Why are there differences? Starlink, the space station and most satellites fly tilted orbits and spend more time over higher latitudes, so slightly more satellites cross the Galilee than Eilat. Darkness hours also differ a little from city to city.
Clouds, light pollution and buildings aren't part of the calculation: this is a count of what you can see under an open sky.