Science
BRITE-Heweliusz
Catalogued as BRITE-PL2 (HEWELIUSZ)
Stellar Photometry · Centrum Badań Kosmicznych PAN (Poland)
Right now
LiveIt moves every second. See exactly where it is — worked out from its orbit, on your own device — on the live 3D globe.
- Over
- —
- Altitude
- —
- Speed
- —
Poland's second contribution to the BRITE nanosatellite constellation, named after the 17th-century Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Heweliusz observes the sky in red wavelengths, while its partner BRITE-Lem observes in blue, giving the Polish team two-color photometry of the brightest stars. This color information reveals the temperature variations driving stellar pulsations — information invisible in single-color observations. A remarkable achievement for a satellite weighing less than a large textbook.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 358–371 mi (577–597 km)
- Inclination
- 97.9°
- One orbit
- 96.3 minutes15.0 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 40119
- Int’l designator
- 2014-049B
- Launched
- 2014
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 21 Sep 2026.