- Navigation satellite
- COSMOS 1226
- NORAD 12091
- 1980-099A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Atlantic Ocean
Orbit ends over the Atlantic Ocean
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Kosmos-1226 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.
Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.
No brightness has been published for Kosmos-1226, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.
Seeing it
There is nothing to go outside for: it is far too high and too faint for the naked eye. What you notice of it is a position fix, and the card above says whether it is above your horizon to give you one.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
- Close approach
On Sunday, Oct 25 at 3:13 AM UTC, a fragment of Thorad Agena D (NORAD 42494) was to pass within 79 m of Cosmos 1226 (NORAD 12091). The chance was about 1 in 4,000.
Summary
Over the Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is Kosmos-1226?
At 6:36:55 PM UTC Kosmos-1226 was over the Pacific Ocean (38.7° S, 76° W), 985 km up, moving at 7.36 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Kosmos-1226?
A navigation satellite in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 10, 1980.
Can I see Kosmos-1226?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-1226, and nothing here estimates one; receivers on the ground use its signals instead, whenever it is above their horizon.
General
- Operator
- Soviet Navy
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- Omsk Aviation Plant
- What it is
- Navigation satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 800 kg
- Operating
- No: its regular operations have ended
- Orbit class
- Low Earth orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, what it is for, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 6:36 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:36 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 38.7° S, 76° W
- Altitude
- 985 km
- Speed
- 7.36 km/s (26,510 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight until 7:17 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 82.9°
- Orbital period
- 104.7 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 13.75
- This orbit
- 955 to 1,005 km
- In shadow
- 32 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,390 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 5:28 AM, 13 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 5:28 AM, 13 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-1226, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 1 reported. No close approach to Kosmos-1226 is reported for the next three days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.
Launched with
Kosmos-1226 shares its launch, 1980-099, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-8 R/B | Rocket body |
Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 5:28 AM, 13 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 1226",
"OBJECT_ID": "1980-099A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T05:28:52.882176",
"MEAN_MOTION": 13.74731495,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00341707,
"INCLINATION": 82.9398,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 257.2156,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 23.1577,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 111.6015,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 12091,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 30254,
"BSTAR": 0.000037547382,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 5.1e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}