What we found
- About a thousand are overhead at once. At 1 pm on 28 October 2026, 996 working satellites were above Sydney's horizon.
- Most are American, and most of those are Starlink. Of 16,845 working satellites, 12,631 are American and 11,182 are Starlink.
- China has about 1,500 and Australia just 32. China owns 1,573 working satellites, the United Kingdom 699 and Australia 32.
- They see your roof, not your phone. The sharpest pictures on sale show a dot every 30 centimetres, bigger than a phone.
Our research: How housing supply shapes prices
The story: how many satellites are above Australia right now?
On 28 October 2026 there were 16,845 working satellites round the Earth. At 1 pm that day, 996 of them were above Sydney's horizon. They move fast, so the thousand overhead is never the same thousand for long.
Three in four belong to the United States, 12,631 in all. Two in three are Starlink, Elon Musk's internet network, with 11,182 of them. China owns 1,573, the United Kingdom 699 and Japan 135. Australia owns just 32.
How do satellites take pictures of Australia?
The same story with no words: flags for the owners, and Landsat scanning Australia strip by strip.
About 300 satellites take pictures of the ground. On 29 October 2026 we followed 318 of them, and they crossed Australia all day.
They do not take snapshots. Each one scans a strip under it as it moves, like a photocopier. Landsat 9, an American government satellite with free pictures, scans a strip 185 kilometres wide. It covers all of Australia every 16 days.
Weather satellites watch from much further out. Japan's Himawari-9 photographs the whole of Australia every ten minutes, clouds and all. Fire satellites pick up heat, which is how the Black Summer fires were mapped from December 2019 to January 2020.
Can a satellite see my house or my phone?
From one backyard in Tarneit, Melbourne, out to every satellite round the Earth.
Free pictures, from Landsat and Europe's Sentinel-2, show a dot every 10 to 30 metres. That is enough to see a suburb grow, but not your house.
The sharpest pictures on sale show a dot every 30 centimetres. That shows cars, pools and the Hills Hoist in the backyard. A phone is about 15 by 7 centimetres, so the whole phone fits inside one dot.
Spy satellites are thought to see about ten centimetres. Even then a phone is only one or two dots, so its screen stays private.
What can satellites tell you about a suburb?
Satellites are best at showing change over the years. Tarneit, on Melbourne's western edge, was paddocks in 1990. A Landsat picture for every year to 2025 shows the rooftops spreading across it.
Microburbs reads satellite pictures too. Our suburb reports show where new building went up between 2019 and 2023, area by area. In the Tarneit block in the reel, our middle valuation across 336 homes is $718,000 in November 2026.
How we made this reel
- We placed every working satellite. Each one moves along its own published orbit for 28 October 2026.
- We followed Landsat 9 for 16 days. Its 185 kilometre strip is drawn pass by pass until Australia is covered.
- The pictures are real. Tarneit is a Landsat picture for each year from 1990 to 2025, the street a Victorian government aerial photo.
What it means for you
- See what is being built near you. Every suburb report shows where new building has gone up, read from satellite pictures.
- Watch a suburb change before you buy. Tarneit, in Melbourne's west, went from paddocks in 1990 to rooftops by 2025.
- Homes there are still within reach. Across the 336 homes in the reel's Tarneit block, our middle valuation is $718,000, November 2026.
Where to see it on Microburbs
- New building, in every suburb report. Open Development and read Construction activity, drawn from satellite pictures.
- Area by area. The report shows which small parts of the suburb changed between 2019 and 2023.
See new building in St Kilda (Vic.) →
Get the data
The data behind this reel, for any suburb, is live in our API. In St Kilda, Melbourne, satellite pictures from 2019 and 2023 show new building in 9 of its 350 small areas, read on 10 November 2026.
Try it now, free. This request is free for our sample suburbs, one in each state and territory, with no sign up and no card:
curl "https://api.microburbs.com.au/v1/suburbs/St%20Kilda%20%28Vic.%29/development/construction-activity" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer test"
What it sent back on 10 November 2026, cut to one small area:
{
"data": {
"area_name": "St Kilda (Vic.)",
"area_level": "suburb",
"summary": {
"mb_count": 350,
"active_mb_count": 9,
"avg_construction_score": -0.0444,
"avg_ndbi_change": -0.019
},
"mesh_blocks": [
{
"mb_code": "20526402000",
"construction_score": 0.0157,
"ndbi_change": 0.0151,
"ndbi_2019": 0.0818,
"ndbi_2023": 0.0969,
"ndvi_change": -0.0007
}
]
}
}
See the full API docs for every request, the price of each and how to get a key for the rest of Australia.
See new building in your suburb
Every Microburbs suburb report shows where new building went up between 2019 and 2023, read from satellite pictures, area by area.
