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BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ) — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 40119)

Track BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ) (NORAD catalog number 40119) 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 is object B of 2014's 49th orbital launch (COSPAR designation 2014-049B). It went up together with 1 other satellite from that launch still in the active catalog. As of this element set it had completed roughly 66,025 revolutions of Earth.

Moving at about 7.58 km/s, BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ) flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 579 × 600 km, completing one revolution every 96.3 minutes — about 14.9 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0015). Its 97.9° 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 47.2°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 1.01° 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	~579 km × 600 km
Inclination	97.92°
Orbital period	96.3 min (14.95 rev/day)
Eccentricity	0.00150
Element set epoch	2026-10-21
COSPAR designation	2014-049B
NORAD catalog number	40119

This page's orbital elements come from the CelesTrak catalog of 2026-10-23. 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

BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ) is one of 4,802 active satellites in WatchSat's general catalog — the broad population of Earth-observation, communications, science, amateur-radio and technology spacecraft outside the giant broadband constellations. Browse all other active satellites live in 3D.

Can you see BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ) from the ground?

Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ) 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 the “When can I see it?” panel in the live view for when it is above your horizon and sunlit.

Related satellites

Nearest catalog neighbors of BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ) in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:

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