- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- METEOR 1-11
- NORAD 5917
- 1972-022A
- Low Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Antarctica
Orbit ends over Antarctica
In view from you
Nobody watches Meteor 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 Meteor, 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
- Close approach
On Wednesday, Oct 14 at 7:36 AM UTC, a fragment of Fengyun 1C (NORAD 37447) was to pass within 211 m of Meteor 1-11 (NORAD 5917). The chance was about 1 in 2,000.
- Close approach
On Monday, Oct 26 at 1:32 PM UTC, a fragment of Fengyun 1C (NORAD 30266) was to pass within 823 m of Meteor 1-11 (NORAD 5917). The chance was about 1 in 7,000.
Summary
Over Russia LIVE
Where is Meteor?
At 11:28:04 PM UTC Meteor was over Russia (67.1° N, 125.3° E), 907 km up, moving at 7.39 km/s and in sunlight.
What is Meteor?
A satellite that watches the Earth in low Earth orbit, in space since Mar 30, 1972.
Can I see Meteor?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for Meteor, and nothing here estimates one; what people use is its pictures and measurements of the Earth.
General
- Operator
- Main Space Forces Directorate
- State
- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Built by
- All-Union Electromechanical Scientific Research Institute
- What it is
- Earth-watching satellite
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- about 1.3 t
- 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, 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
- 11:28 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 11:28 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 67.1° N, 125.3° E
- Altitude
- 907 km
- Speed
- 7.39 km/s (26,597 km/h)
- Course
- north
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 81.2°
- Orbital period
- 102.2 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 14.09
- This orbit
- 820 to 898 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 2,270 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 11:17 PM, 23 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 11:17 PM, 1 day old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for Meteor, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- 2 reported. No close approach to Meteor is reported for the next three 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
Meteor shares its launch, 1972-022, with one other body the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| SL-3 R/B | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meteor | 820 to 898 km | 102 minutes | about 1.3 t | 1972 |
| Sentinel-5P | 826 to 828 km | 101 minutes | 820 kg | 2017 |
| Suomi NPP | 825 to 829 km | 101 minutes | about 2.1 t | 2011 |
| MetOp-SG A1 | 820 to 821 km | 101 minutes | about 4 t | 2025 |
| Metop-B | 818 to 823 km | 101 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2012 |
| Metop-C | 820 to 821 km | 101 minutes | about 4.1 t | 2018 |
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 11:17 PM, 23 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "METEOR 1-11",
"OBJECT_ID": "1972-022A",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T23:17:14.753760",
"MEAN_MOTION": 14.09307492,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00543731,
"INCLINATION": 81.2292,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 145.2088,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 283.0405,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 76.4699,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 5917,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 80469,
"BSTAR": 0.000009999183,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 2.9e-7,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}