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TIANHUI 5A — Live Satellite Tracking (NORAD 58199)
Track TIANHUI 5A (NORAD catalog number 58199) 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 2023, launched on the 168th orbital launch of that year (COSPAR designation 2023-168A). 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 15,468 revolutions of Earth.
Moving at about 7.56 km/s, TIANHUI 5A flies in low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 612 × 614 km, completing one revolution every 96.8 minutes — about 14.9 trips around Earth per day. The orbit is essentially circular (eccentricity 0.0002). Its 97.8° 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 255.7°. Earth's equatorial bulge precesses that plane eastward about 0.99° 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 | ~612 km × 614 km |
| Inclination | 97.82° |
| Orbital period | 96.8 min (14.88 rev/day) |
| Eccentricity | 0.00016 |
| Element set epoch | 2026-09-06 |
| COSPAR designation | 2023-168A |
| NORAD catalog number | 58199 |
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
TIANHUI 5A is one of 4,471 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 TIANHUI 5A from the ground?
Sometimes. Like most low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, TIANHUI 5A 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 TIANHUI 5A in the Other Active Satellites group — usually craft from the same or adjacent launches:
- TIANHUI 5B (NORAD 58201)
- TJS-10 (NORAD 58204)
- COSMOS 2571 (NORAD 58172)
- COSMOS 2570 (NORAD 58148)
- YAOGAN-39 04C (NORAD 58145)
- ZHONGXING-6E (NORAD 58253)
Browse the Other Active Satellites directory or the full satellite directory · What is a TLE? · WatchSat live globe