On Sunday, January 5, 2025 at 05:08:00 PM EST, John Lutz via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:

> Do any of you happen to know the orbit number for the ~05:00 UTC ISS pass over North America on 5 January (late last night local time)? My son had the best image capture he's ever gotten
> (the one with the Japanese children in a classroom). I would like to have the orbit number for his archives.

According to my calculations (and that would mean by using PREDICT satellite tracking software) that was orbit number 48988.

However, the ISS has been in orbit since November 20, 1998 and has completed many more orbits than that. It seems the TLE Keplerian data format only provides enough room for a 5 digit orbit number.

So, based on roughly 15.5 orbits per day (currently) over the course of 9543 days since launch, you can safely add a leading zero to that orbit number to yield: 148988.

> Thanks much,
>
>John, N9JL

My pleasure, John.


73 de John, KD2BD