- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- PLEIADES 1B
- NORAD 39019
- 2012-068A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Barents Sea
Orbit ends over the Barents Sea
Sunlit since
Enters the Earth’s shadow
In view from you
Nobody watches Pleiades 1b 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 Pleiades 1b, 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 the Pacific Ocean LIVE
Where is Pleiades 1b?
At 5:38:46 PM UTC Pleiades 1b was over the Pacific Ocean (48.6° S, 116.3° W), 718 km up, moving at 7.5 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Pleiades 1b?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Dec 2, 2012.
Can I see Pleiades 1b?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Pleiades 1b, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- National Space Research Center
- State
- French Republic
- Built by
- Astrium (F) Toulouse
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 970 kg
- Operating
- Yes
- 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, 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
- 5:38 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:38 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 48.6° S, 116.3° W
- Altitude
- 718 km
- Speed
- 7.5 km/s (26,982 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight until 6:01 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.2°
- Orbital period
- 98.7 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.59
- This orbit
- 694 to 696 km
- In shadow
- 34 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,970 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 8:22 AM, 9 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 8:22 AM, 9 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Pleiades 1b, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to Pleiades 1b 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.
Beside the others
| Satellite | Typical altitude | Orbital period | Mass | In space since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleiades 1b | 694 to 696 km | 99 minutes | 970 kg | 2012 |
| Sentinel-1A | 693 to 695 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2014 |
| Sentinel-1C | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2024 |
| Sentinel-1D | 695 to 697 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2025 |
| Terra | 688 to 691 km | 99 minutes | about 5.2 t | 1999 |
| Landsat 8 | 702 to 703 km | 99 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2013 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 8:22 AM, 9 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "PLEIADES 1B",
"OBJECT_ID": "2012-068A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T08:22:02.272224",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.58550838,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00014694,
"INCLINATION": 98.1833,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 25.3079,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 79.6136,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 280.5229,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 39019,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 74186,
"BSTAR": 0.000082181839,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000336,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}