- Military
- COSMOS 1261
- NORAD 12376
- 1981-031A
- Highly elliptical orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over the Pacific Ocean
In view from you
Nobody watches Kosmos-1261 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-1261, 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 too faint to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over Russia LIVE
Where is Kosmos-1261?
At 12:15:26 AM UTC Kosmos-1261 was over Russia (60.9° N, 166.3° E), 19,820 km up, moving at 3.93 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Kosmos-1261?
A satellite in a highly elliptical orbit, in space since Mar 31, 1981.
Can I see Kosmos-1261?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Kosmos-1261, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- Proto-Vozdhusnoy Oborony
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- NPO Lavochkin
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.3 t
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Highly elliptical orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 12:15 AM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 12:15 AM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 60.9° N, 166.3° E
- Altitude
- 19,820 km
- Speed
- 3.93 km/s (14,137 km/h)
- Course
- south-east
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 69.2°
- Orbital period
- 716.8 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 2.01
- This orbit
- 4,848 to 35,455 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 7,350 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 10:40 AM, 1 day old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 10:40 AM, 1 day old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Kosmos-1261, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Kosmos-1261 has been reported publicly in the past thirty 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-1261 shares its launch, 1981-031, with 4 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-6 R/B(2) | Rocket body |
| COSMOS 1261 DEB | Debris |
| COSMOS 1261 DEB | Debris |
| COSMOS 1261 DEB | Debris |
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 7, 2026, 10:40 AM, 1 day old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "COSMOS 1261",
"OBJECT_ID": "1981-031A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T10:40:12.874944",
"MEAN_MOTION": 2.00902126,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.57683504,
"INCLINATION": 69.1577,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 81.4395,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 346.7526,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 2.7882,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 12376,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 23035,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000178,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}