Communications
IRIDIUM 105
Global Mobile Satellite Network (Iridium NEXT) · Iridium Communications
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One of the Iridium NEXT satellites, part of a constellation whose predecessor generation created some of the most spectacular naked-eye satellite phenomena ever observed — sudden, brilliant 'Iridium flares' up to 100 times brighter than Venus, caused by sunlight reflecting off the original satellites' flat antenna panels. Iridium NEXT's redesigned antennas eliminated this effect entirely, quietly ending an era of predictable amateur astronomy events that had delighted skywatchers for two decades.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 485–487 mi (780–783 km)
- Inclination
- 86.4°
- One orbit
- 100.3 minutes14.4 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 41921
- Int’l designator
- 2017-003E
- Launched
- 2017
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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