James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Country: United States of America
Earth tracking not applicable
Trajectory model
Upcoming Passes · Over Your Location
About This Satellite
The James Webb Space Telescope travels around the Sun near the Sun-Earth L2 region, roughly 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. It follows a halo orbit around that region rather than sitting motionless at a single point.
Mission context
Keeping the Sun, Earth, and Moon on the sunshield side helps the observatory maintain the thermal environment required for infrared observations. L2 is not a low Earth orbit, and an Earth-centred tracking model cannot represent the operational trajectory reliably.
What to notice in this record
This page deliberately does not draw a current ground track or predict local passes from an old launch TLE. Such an element set can describe a short departure phase without describing where Webb is now. Use the NASA mission source for its operational orbit; a NORAD identifier alone does not make an object suitable for SGP4 Earth tracking.
Mission reference: NASA: Webb orbit. Editorial review: .
Accuracy and missing information
The introductory record describes the build snapshot. The orbital snapshot explanation and orbit panel share any successfully retrieved TLE; check the displayed epoch. Reentered objects retain historical data only. Mission history is not rewritten by TLE updates. TLE/SGP4 positions are predictions and can change after maneuvers or updated observations. The 14-day stale-data cutoff is a display safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee. Local passes are geometric predictions, not a visibility forecast. No verified operator or mission status means unknown, not active. Do not use this catalog for collision avoidance or operational flight decisions.
Catalog sources: CelesTrak SATCAT: NORAD 50463 · GCAT: S50463 (source update 2026 Sep 4 2345:57). Supplementary metadata: SatNOGS DB, retrieved 2026-09-05T12:57:25.375Z. Page assembled 2026-09-15. GCAT phase codes describe trajectory phases, not mission health.
Learn more: TLE data · Perigee and apogee · Ground tracks · JOT (Jewawud Live Orbital Map)