- Earth-watching satellite
- FORMOSAT-5
- NORAD 42920
- 2017-049A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over the Indian Ocean
Orbit ends over the Arabian Sea
In the Earth’s shadow since
Back in sunlight
In view from you
Nobody watches FORMOSAT 5 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 FORMOSAT 5, 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 Indian Ocean LIVE
Where is FORMOSAT 5?
At 5:36:31 PM UTC FORMOSAT 5 was over the Indian Ocean (18° S, 75.3° E), 722 km up, moving at 7.5 km/s and in the Earth’s shadow.
What is FORMOSAT 5?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Aug 24, 2017.
Can I see FORMOSAT 5?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for FORMOSAT 5, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- National Space Organization
- State
- China, Republic of (Taiwan)
- Built by
- National Space Organization
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Launched
- Mass
- 525 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, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 5:36 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 18° S, 75.3° E
- Altitude
- 722 km
- Speed
- 7.5 km/s (26,989 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In the Earth’s shadow until 6:02 PM UTC
- Inclination
- 98.2°
- Orbital period
- 99.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.51
- This orbit
- 712 to 728 km
- In shadow
- 34 minutes of each orbit
- In view from
- Within 1,980 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 8, 2026, 6:06 AM, 10 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 8, 2026, 6:06 AM, 11 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for FORMOSAT 5, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to FORMOSAT 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FORMOSAT 5 | 712 to 728 km | 99 minutes | 525 kg | 2017 |
| Landsat 9 | 702 to 704 km | 99 minutes | about 2.7 t | 2021 |
| Landsat 8 | 702 to 703 km | 99 minutes | about 2.8 t | 2013 |
| 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 |
| Sentinel-1A | 693 to 695 km | 99 minutes | about 2.2 t | 2014 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 8, 2026, 6:06 AM, 10 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "FORMOSAT-5",
"OBJECT_ID": "2017-049A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-08T06:06:21.140640",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.50922524,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00114884,
"INCLINATION": 98.2134,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 24.264,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 6.9215,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 353.2137,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 42920,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 48756,
"BSTAR": 0.000063050872,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 0.00000205,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}