- Earth-watching satellite
- FENGYUN 2C
- NORAD 28451
- 2004-042A
- Inclined geosynchronous
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over Tanzania
In view from you
Nobody watches Feng Yun 2C 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 Feng Yun 2C, 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 for the naked eye. What it is up there for reaches the ground as pictures and measurements, not as a light in the sky.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over Tanzania LIVE
Where is Feng Yun 2C?
At 6:41:17 PM UTC Feng Yun 2C was over Tanzania (5.1° S, 38.4° E), 36,399 km up, moving at 3.05 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Feng Yun 2C?
A satellite that watches the Earth in an inclined geosynchronous orbit, in space since Oct 19, 2004.
Can I see Feng Yun 2C?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Feng Yun 2C, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- National Satellite Meteorological Center
- State
- China, People's Republic of
- Built by
- Shanghai Inst. of Satellite Engineering (509 Res.Inst.)
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 651 kg
- Operating
- Orbit class
- Inclined geosynchronous
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
- 6:41 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:41 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 5.1° S, 38.4° E
- Altitude
- 36,399 km
- Speed
- 3.05 km/s (10,991 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 12.7°
- Orbital period
- 1,468.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 0.98
- This orbit
- 36,400 to 36,425 km
- In view from
- Within 7,960 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 7:46 PM, 22 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 7:46 PM, 22 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Feng Yun 2C, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Feng Yun 2C 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
Feng Yun 2C shares its launch, 2004-042, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| FENGYUN 2C AKM | 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feng Yun 2C | 36,400 to 36,425 km | 1,468 minutes | 651 kg | 2004 |
| GOES-19 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5 t | 2024 |
| Meteosat-12 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 3.8 t | 2022 |
| Meteosat-11 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 2 t | 2015 |
| GOES-16 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.2 t | 2016 |
| GOES-17 | 35,786 to 35,786 km | 1,436 minutes | about 5.2 t | 2018 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 7:46 PM, 22 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "FENGYUN 2C",
"OBJECT_ID": "2004-042A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T19:46:54.920064",
"MEAN_MOTION": 0.98082295,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00029747,
"INCLINATION": 12.6649,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 30.0744,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 340.3836,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 18.7445,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 28451,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 4257,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": -5e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}