Starlink Guides

Plain-English explainers about Starlink and how to track it.

• What Is Starlink? A Plain-English Guide

  Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet network. Here's how it works, why it uses thousands of satellites, and what makes it different from older satellite internet.

• How to Track Starlink Satellites in Real Time

  A step-by-step guide to tracking Starlink satellites live: using the 3D globe, reading orbital data, and finding satellites passing over your location.

• Can You See Starlink Satellites From Your House?

  When and how to spot Starlink satellites with the naked eye — the famous 'Starlink train', the best viewing times, and what the Coverage page tells you.

• Starlink Satellite Versions Explained: v0.9 to V2 Mini

  From the first v0.9 prototypes to the laser-linked V2 Mini, here's how Starlink's hardware has evolved — and how to tell which generation you're looking at.

• Is Starlink Available in My Area? How Coverage Works

  How Starlink decides where service is available, why some areas are waitlisted, and practical steps to check coverage and get connected at your address.

• Starlink vs Traditional Satellite Internet: What's Different

  Why Starlink feels nothing like old satellite internet — the role of low Earth orbit, latency, speeds, weather and cost compared with geostationary providers.

• The Starlink Train: What It Is and How to Catch One

  That eerie line of lights crossing the night sky is a freshly launched batch of Starlink satellites. Why the train forms, how long it lasts, and how to see one before it disperses.

• Why Satellites Vanish Mid-Pass: Earth's Shadow Explained

  You're watching a satellite cross the sky and it simply fades out, mid-flight. Nothing broke — it flew into Earth's shadow. The geometry of satellite visibility, explained.

• Starlink's Orbital Shells: Why Inclination Decides Who Gets Coverage

  Starlink isn't one swarm — it's several distinct 'shells' at different altitudes and tilts. What 53°, 70° and polar inclinations mean, and why your latitude determines which satellites serve you.

• TLEs and SGP4: How Satellite Tracking Actually Works

  No radar dish required — every satellite position on this site comes from two lines of text and a 1970s-era algorithm. What TLEs are, where they come from, and how accurate they really are.

• How Long Do Starlink Satellites Last? Lifespan, Deorbit and Fiery Retirement

  Starlink satellites are designed to live fast and die deliberately — about five years of service, then a controlled plunge. How deorbiting works and why the low orbit is a safety feature.

• Starlink and the Night Sky: The Brightness Problem, and What's Being Done

  Astronomers sounded the alarm when the first Starlink train lit up the sky in 2019. What the constellation actually does to telescopes and stargazing, and how mitigation has evolved.