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FENGYUN 3C — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 39260)
Track FENGYUN 3C (NORAD catalog number 39260) live on the WatchSat interactive 3D globe above. Its position is propagated in real time from the latest CelesTrak two-line element set using the SGP4/SDP4 orbital model — the same math professional trackers run. It has been on orbit since 2013, launched on the 52nd orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2013-052A). As of this element set it had completed roughly 67,017 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.44 km/s, FENGYUN 3C flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 836 × 858 km, completing one revolution every 101.7 minutes — about 14.2 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0015). Its 98.5° retrograde, near-polar inclination is characteristic of a Sun-synchronous orbit — the type Earth-imaging and weather satellites use to revisit each spot at the same local solar time. Its orbital plane crosses the equator northbound at right ascension 220.4°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 0.96° per day, matching the Sun's apparent motion — which is what holds its lighting constant.
Orbital elements
| Orbit regime | low Earth orbit (LEO) |
|---|---|
| Perigee × apogee altitude | ~836 km × 858 km |
| Inclination | 98.51° |
| Orbital period | 101.7 min (14.16 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00153 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-07 |
| COSPAR designation | 2013-052A |
| NORAD catalog number | 39260 |
This page's orbital elements come from the CelesTrak catalog of 2026-09-08. The live 3D view above fetches its own current CelesTrak data when the page opens, through an edge cache that refreshes roughly every 30 minutes.
About the Other Active Satellites group
FENGYUN 3C's name places it among WatchSat's 36 weather and environmental-monitoring satellites — a family that includes the NOAA, GOES, METEOSAT, METOP, FENGYUN, HIMAWARI and DMSP fleets. Browse all other active satellites live in 3D.
Can you see FENGYUN 3C from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, FENGYUN 3C is visible only around dawn and dusk, when your sky is dark but the satellite is still sunlit — and whether you can spot it depends on its size and reflectivity. See pass predictions for your location for when it is above your horizon and sunlit.
Related satellites
Nearest catalog neighbors of FENGYUN 3C in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- AEHF-3 (USA 246) (NORAD 39256)
- CASSIOPE (NORAD 39265)
- HISAKI (SPRINT-A) (NORAD 39253)
- GONETS-M 7 (NORAD 39251)
- POPACS 2 (NORAD 39269)
- GONETS-M 6 (NORAD 39250)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe