Lem

LIVE
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Link to this page

https://orbinauts.com/satellites/39431

  • Space telescope
  • BRITE-PL
  • NORAD 39431
  • 2013-066R
  • Low Earth orbit

Current orbit

Where Lem is on the world map, with the orbit it is flying
View on live map

Orbit began over Antarctica

Orbit ends over Antarctica

In the Earth’s shadow since

Back in sunlight

Past trackNext orbits

In view from you

Nobody watches Lem 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 Lem, 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 faint for the naked eye, and catching it would take a telescope driven to follow a point crossing the sky in minutes. What is worth looking at is what it sends back.

Timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source

Summary

Over the People's Republic of China LIVE

Where is Lem?

At 4:41:16 PM UTC Lem was over the People's Republic of China (42.4° N, 109.4° E), 794 km up, moving at 7.43 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.

What is Lem?

A space telescope in low Earth orbit, in space since Nov 21, 2013.

Can I see Lem?

No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Lem, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is what it sees, which its operator publishes.

General

Operator
Space Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences
State
Poland, Republic of
Built by
Space Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences
What it is
Space telescope
Launched
Mass
6 kg
Operating
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
4:41 PM UTC
Station time (UTC)
4:41 PM UTC
Latitude / longitude
42.4° N, 109.4° E
Altitude
794 km
Speed
7.43 km/s (26,730 km/h)
Course
north
Light
In the Earth’s shadow until 4:51 PM UTC
Inclination
97.8°
Orbital period
99.2 minutes
Orbits per day
14.52
This orbit
584 to 851 km
In shadow
35 minutes of each orbit
In view from
Within 2,100 km of the point below it
Elements epoch
Nov 8, 2026, 6:33 AM, 10 hours old
Source
Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 6:33 AM, 10 hours old.

No operator publishes an ephemeris for Lem, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.

In orbit

Close approaches
No close approach to Lem 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.

See every close approach reported in orbit.

Launched with

Lem shares its launch, 2013-066, with 25 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.

BodyWhat it is
APRIZESAT 7Communications satellite
ZACUBESatellite
SKYSAT 1Earth-watching satellite
DUBAISAT 2Earth-watching satellite
OPTOSSatellite
UNISAT 5Satellite
STSAT 3Space telescope
WNISAT 1Earth-watching satellite
CINEMA 2Satellite
APRIZESAT 8Communications satellite
CINEMA 3Satellite
TRITON 1Communications satellite
DELFI-N3XTSatellite
DOVE 3Earth-watching satellite
GOMX 1Communications satellite
ICUBE 1Satellite
VELOX-P 2Satellite
CUBEBUG 2Satellite
NEE 02 KRYSAORSatellite
PUCP-SAT 1Satellite
FUNCUBE 1Satellite
HINCUBEEarth-watching satellite
UWE-3Satellite
BPA 3/SL-24Satellite
SL-24 DEBDebris

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

SatelliteTypical altitudeOrbital periodMassIn space since
Lem584 to 851 km99 minutes6 kg2013
Cheops679 to 694 km98 minutes280 kg2019
Fermi488 to 498 km94 minutesabout 4.3 t2008
Hubble465 to 480 km94 minutesabout 12.2 t1990
XMM-Newton29,443 to 91,682 km2,873 minutesabout 3.8 t1999
Chandra12,186 to 136,630 km3,809 minutesabout 4.8 t1999

Data and API

The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 6:33 AM, 10 hours old.

{
  "OBJECT_NAME": "BRITE-PL",
  "OBJECT_ID": "2013-066R",
  "EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:33:50.590080",
  "MEAN_MOTION": 14.51501459,
  "ECCENTRICITY": 0.01882389,
  "INCLINATION": 97.8054,
  "RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 54.3649,
  "ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 283.0104,
  "MEAN_ANOMALY": 75.0137,
  "EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
  "CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
  "NORAD_CAT_ID": 39431,
  "ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
  "REV_AT_EPOCH": 68483,
  "BSTAR": 0.00015350784,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.0000072,
  "MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}