saturn·

celestrak active satellites

source /home/coolhand/html/datavis/data_trove/cache/celestrak_active_satellites.json 13,983 rows 17 columns profiled 2026-05-01 raw JSON static .html .ipynb Report Notebook

Reading

dataset summary · high confidence anthropic:claude-opus-4-7

This is a snapshot of 13,983 active satellites from CelesTrak, with 17 columns of two-line element (TLE) orbital parameters such as inclination, eccentricity, mean motion, and BSTAR drag term. Three columns (ELEMENT_SET_NO, EPHEMERIS_TYPE, MEAN_MOTION_DDOT) are constants and CLASSIFICATION_TYPE is uniformly 'U' (unclassified), so they can be ignored. The most informative shapes are in MEAN_MOTION and INCLINATION, which together reveal the orbital regimes (LEO vs higher orbits) populating the catalog — MEAN_MOTION is heavily concentrated near 15 rev/day (LEO) with a long tail down to 0.28, and INCLINATION spans 0–148° with a median around 53°. ECCENTRICITY is extremely skewed (median 0.00015, max 0.88) flagging a small number of highly elliptical orbits worth inspecting. OBJECT_NAME also offers a quick look at operator/constellation prevalence, with [DTC], Flock, Cosmos, and Iridium dominating.

citing: MEAN_MOTION · INCLINATION · ECCENTRICITY · OBJECT_NAME · CLASSIFICATION_TYPE · ELEMENT_SET_NO · REV_AT_EPOCH

Schema

17 columns
Per-column summary. Click column name to jump to its detail.
Alerts
OBJECT_NAME text 0.0% 13,982
near_unique one_word allcaps
OBJECT_ID text 0.0% 13,983
near_unique one_word allcaps short_text
EPOCH text 0.0% 13,235
one_word allcaps
MEAN_MOTION numeric 0.0% 13,734
high_skew outliers
ECCENTRICITY numeric 0.0% 10,812
high_skew outliers
INCLINATION numeric 0.0% 4,236
RA_OF_ASC_NODE numeric 0.0% 13,918
ARG_OF_PERICENTER numeric 0.0% 13,898
MEAN_ANOMALY numeric 0.0% 13,884
EPHEMERIS_TYPE numeric 0.0% 1
constant
CLASSIFICATION_TYPE categorical 0.0% 1
imbalance
NORAD_CAT_ID numeric 0.0% 13,983
ELEMENT_SET_NO numeric 0.0% 1
constant
REV_AT_EPOCH numeric 0.0% 6,964
high_skew
BSTAR numeric 0.0% 13,170
high_skew outliers
MEAN_MOTION_DOT numeric 0.0% 8,587
outliers
MEAN_MOTION_DDOT numeric 0.0% 1
constant

OBJECT_NAME

text identifier near_unique one_word allcaps
This is the satellite/space object designation column (OBJECT_NAME), with 13,982 unique values across 13,983 rows and only one duplicate. Values are short (mean 13.3 chars, median 1 word) and almost entirely uppercase (99.99%), consistent with catalog identifiers; recurring tokens like [DTC], FLOCK, COSMOS, IRIDIUM, JILIN-1 and TRANSPORTER-15 reflect known constellation/launch families. Effectively a near-unique label rather than a modelling feature. Treatment: Treat as an identifier; drop from modelling or use only for joins/lookup. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,982
len_min
2
len_max
32
len_mean
13.28
len_median
13
len_p95
20
word_mean
1.258
word_median
1
n_empty
0
n_duplicates
1
duplicate_rate
7.152e-05
vocab_size
13,960
readability_flesch_mean
45.37
emoji_rate
0
url_rate
0
one_word_rate
0.7909
allcaps_rate
0.9999
boilerplate_rate
0

OBJECT_ID

text identifier near_unique one_word allcaps short_text
OBJECT_ID is a unique catalog identifier, almost certainly the COSPAR international designator for space objects (e.g., '1964-063c', '1965-034c'). Every one of the 13,983 rows is distinct and non-null, single-token, all-caps, and 9-10 characters long, which matches the YYYY-NNN+suffix convention exactly. There is no duplication or missingness to worry about. Treatment: Use as the primary key for joins; exclude from modelling features. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,983
len_min
9
len_max
10
len_mean
9.217
len_median
9
len_p95
10
word_mean
1
word_median
1
n_empty
0
n_duplicates
0
duplicate_rate
0
vocab_size
13,983
readability_flesch_mean
120.8
emoji_rate
0
url_rate
0
one_word_rate
1
allcaps_rate
1
boilerplate_rate
0

EPOCH

text timestamp one_word allcaps
Despite being typed as text and flagged 'allcaps'/'one_word', EPOCH holds ISO-8601 timestamps of fixed length 26, all on 2025-12-21. The value '2025-12-21T14:00:01.999872' appears 658 times and overall duplicate_rate is 5.3% across 13,235 unique values, suggesting a single-day snapshot with one dominant batch timestamp. Treatment: Parse to datetime and extract hour/minute features; investigate the 658-row spike at 14:00:01. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,235
len_min
26
len_max
26
len_mean
26
len_median
26
len_p95
26
word_mean
1
word_median
1
n_empty
0
n_duplicates
748
duplicate_rate
0.05349
vocab_size
13,235
readability_flesch_mean
121.2
emoji_rate
0
url_rate
0
one_word_rate
1
allcaps_rate
1
boilerplate_rate
0

MEAN_MOTION

numeric feature high_skew outliers
MEAN_MOTION is a numeric orbital parameter (revolutions per day) for 13,983 objects, with 13,734 unique values and no nulls. The bulk sits tightly between Q1 14.99 and Q3 15.30 (median 15.09), consistent with low-Earth-orbit satellites, but a heavy left tail pulls the mean down to 14.24 and the minimum to 0.28, producing strong negative skew (-3.62) and kurtosis 11.6. That tail flags 2,440 outliers (17.4%), likely geosynchronous or higher-orbit objects mixed into an LEO-dominated population. Treatment: Segment by orbit regime or apply a robust/quantile transform before modelling to handle the heavy left tail. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,734
min
0.2836
max
16.26
mean
14.24
median
15.09
std
3.244
q1
14.99
q3
15.3
iqr
0.3161
skew
-3.617
kurtosis
11.62
n_outliers
2,440
outlier_rate
0.1745
zero_rate
0

ECCENTRICITY

numeric feature high_skew outliers
This is the orbital ECCENTRICITY of 13,983 objects, with values ranging from 4.6e-07 to 0.8777294 and a median of just 0.00015248. The distribution is extremely tight around near-circular orbits (Q1–Q3 spans only 0.00017982) but has a heavy right tail, producing skew of 18.65, kurtosis of 356.68, and 2,164 outliers (15.5%). The mean (0.00272) sits an order of magnitude above the median, confirming a small population of highly eccentric orbits dominates the upper end. Treatment: Log-transform or use a robust scaler before modelling to tame the heavy right tail. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
10,812
min
4.6e-07
max
0.8777
mean
0.002717
median
0.0001525
std
0.039
q1
0.000123
q3
0.0003028
iqr
0.0001798
skew
18.65
kurtosis
356.7
n_outliers
2,164
outlier_rate
0.1548
zero_rate
0

INCLINATION

numeric feature
Numeric orbital inclination angles in degrees, spanning 0.0008 to 148.0433 across 13,983 rows with no nulls and 4,236 unique values. The distribution is nearly symmetric (skew 0.13, kurtosis 0.05) and centred around a median of 53.16° with IQR 43.00–80.99°, consistent with a mix of low-inclination and polar/retrograde orbits. Only 3 outliers flagged, and the max above 90° confirms retrograde objects are present. Treatment: Use as-is as a numeric feature; no transform needed given near-symmetric distribution. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
4,236
min
0.0008
max
148
mean
59.4
median
53.16
std
23.64
q1
43
q3
80.99
iqr
37.99
skew
0.1296
kurtosis
0.04665
n_outliers
3
outlier_rate
0.0002145
zero_rate
0

RA_OF_ASC_NODE

numeric feature
This column holds the right ascension of the ascending node, an orbital element measured in degrees. Values span almost the full 0.053 to 359.9097 range with a near-uniform spread (skew 0.198, kurtosis -1.25) and no outliers, consistent with an angular coordinate distributed around the celestial sphere. With 13918 unique values across 13983 rows and no nulls, it behaves as a continuous orbital feature rather than a categorical key. Treatment: Treat as a circular variable (e.g. encode as sin/cos of the angle) before modelling. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,918
min
0.053
max
359.9
mean
168.9
median
158.4
std
106.1
q1
71.97
q3
262
iqr
190
skew
0.1983
kurtosis
-1.253
n_outliers
0
outlier_rate
0
zero_rate
0

ARG_OF_PERICENTER

numeric feature
This column holds the argument of pericenter, an orbital element measured in degrees, with values bounded between 0.0094 and 359.9416 across 13,983 rows and 13,898 unique values. The distribution is broad and nearly flat (kurtosis -1.53, skew 0.26) with mean 165.24 and median 113.07, consistent with an angular quantity spanning the full 0-360° range. No nulls, no zeros, and no outliers are flagged. Treatment: Encode as a circular variable (e.g., sin/cos transform) before modelling rather than using the raw degrees. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,898
min
0.0094
max
359.9
mean
165.2
median
113.1
std
93.61
q1
86.59
q3
267.5
iqr
180.9
skew
0.2608
kurtosis
-1.527
n_outliers
0
outlier_rate
0
zero_rate
0

MEAN_ANOMALY

numeric feature
MEAN_ANOMALY is a numeric astronomical/orbital field with values spanning 0.0645 to 359.9554, consistent with an angle measured in degrees over a full circle. The distribution is broad (std 94.5, IQR 180.9) and mildly left-skewed (-0.31) with platykurtic shape (kurtosis -1.45), suggesting a fairly uniform spread across the 0-360 range rather than a peaked distribution. Near-unique values (13,884 of 13,983) and zero nulls/outliers indicate a clean continuous measurement. Treatment: Encode as a circular variable (e.g., sin/cos transform) before modelling since the 0-360 range wraps. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,884
min
0.0645
max
360
mean
196
median
247.2
std
94.5
q1
92.83
q3
273.7
iqr
180.9
skew
-0.3052
kurtosis
-1.451
n_outliers
0
outlier_rate
0
zero_rate
0

EPHEMERIS_TYPE

numeric metadata constant
EPHEMERIS_TYPE is a numeric field that is entirely constant: across all 13983 rows it holds the value 0, with zero_rate 1.0 and n_unique 1. It carries no information for modelling or segmentation. Treatment: Drop, constant column. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
1
min
0
max
0
mean
0
median
0
std
0
q1
0
q3
0
iqr
0
skew
0
kurtosis
0
n_outliers
0
outlier_rate
0
zero_rate
1

CLASSIFICATION_TYPE

categorical metadata imbalance
Constant column holding the single value 'U' across all 13983 rows with no nulls. Entropy is 0 and cardinality is 1, so it carries no information for modelling or segmentation. Treatment: Drop; constant column with zero entropy. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
1
top_value
U
top_rate
1
cardinality
1
entropy
0
entropy_ratio
0

NORAD_CAT_ID

numeric identifier
NORAD_CAT_ID is the satellite catalog number assigned by NORAD; with 13,983 unique values across 13,983 rows and zero nulls, it serves as a primary key for tracked space objects. Values span 900 to 67,228 with a left-skewed distribution (skew -1.29) and median 58,353, reflecting that most catalog entries are recent launches while a small tail of legacy objects pulls the minimum down to 900. The 318 low-end outliers (2.27%) are consistent with these older catalog assignments rather than data errors. Treatment: Use as a join key; exclude from modelling features. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,983
min
900
max
67,228
mean
5.653e+04
median
58,353
std
8568
q1
5.235e+04
q3
6.328e+04
iqr
10,923
skew
-1.287
kurtosis
2.427
n_outliers
318
outlier_rate
0.02274
zero_rate
0

ELEMENT_SET_NO

numeric metadata constant
ELEMENT_SET_NO is a numeric column that is entirely constant: all 13,983 rows hold the value 999.0, with zero nulls and zero variance. There is no information content here — min, max, mean, and median all equal 999.0, and n_unique is 1. Treatment: Drop; constant column carries no signal. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
1
min
999
max
999
mean
999
median
999
std
0
q1
999
q3
999
iqr
0
skew
0
kurtosis
0
n_outliers
0
outlier_rate
0
zero_rate
0

REV_AT_EPOCH

numeric feature high_skew
REV_AT_EPOCH is a fully populated numeric column with 13983 rows and 6964 unique values, ranging from 1 to 99870 with a median of 9780 and mean of 12690.5. The distribution is heavily right-skewed (skew 2.54, kurtosis 9.63) with 523 outliers (3.7%) above the upper fence, and the std (13044.7) exceeds the mean. The name suggests a revenue measurement keyed to an epoch, but no temporal evidence is present in the payload to confirm that. Treatment: log-transform before regression to tame the right skew. medium · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
6,964
min
1
max
99,870
mean
1.269e+04
median
9,780
std
1.304e+04
q1
3,575
q3
18,182
iqr
14,607
skew
2.536
kurtosis
9.628
n_outliers
523
outlier_rate
0.0374
zero_rate
0

BSTAR

numeric feature high_skew outliers
BSTAR is the satellite drag term (B*) from TLE orbital element sets — a numeric ballistic coefficient typically tiny in magnitude. Values cluster tightly (median 9.8e-05, IQR ~4.7e-04) but the range spans -0.133 to 0.0798 with extreme negative skew (-8.50) and kurtosis of 214.79, plus 10.04% flagged as outliers and 5.70% exact zeros. The heavy negative tail is unusual since drag terms are usually positive, suggesting a meaningful subset of decaying or anomalous objects. Treatment: Apply a signed log transform (e.g., sign(x)*log1p(|x|)) and consider winsorising before modelling. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
13,170
min
-0.1332
max
0.07985
mean
8.731e-05
median
9.808e-05
std
0.006055
q1
1.026e-05
q3
0.0004813
iqr
0.0004711
skew
-8.499
kurtosis
214.8
n_outliers
1,404
outlier_rate
0.1004
zero_rate
0.057

MEAN_MOTION_DOT

numeric feature outliers
MEAN_MOTION_DOT is the first time-derivative of mean motion from TLE-style orbital element sets, capturing how quickly an object's orbital rate is changing. Values cluster tightly near zero (median 8.95e-06, IQR 0.00012452) but the tails are extreme: min -0.03542877, max 0.07662247, kurtosis ~123.8 and skew -1.76, with 13.2% flagged as outliers. The heavy negative skew suggests a subset of objects experiencing strong orbital decay relative to the typical near-stable population. Treatment: Keep as-is for physics-aware models; for linear methods apply a signed log (e.g., sign(x)*log1p(|x|)) and consider winsorising the 1844 outliers. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
8,587
min
-0.03543
max
0.07662
mean
-1.299e-05
median
8.95e-06
std
0.002423
q1
1.5e-07
q3
0.0001247
iqr
0.0001245
skew
-1.756
kurtosis
123.8
n_outliers
1,844
outlier_rate
0.1319
zero_rate
0.003647

MEAN_MOTION_DDOT

numeric feature constant
MEAN_MOTION_DDOT is the second derivative of mean motion from a TLE/orbital element record, but here every one of the 13,983 rows is exactly 0.0 with zero nulls and a single unique value. It carries no information in this snapshot — likely because the source feed never populates this term for the included objects. Treatment: Drop; constant column with no variance. high · anthropic:claude-opus-4-7
n
13,983
nulls
0 (0.0%)
unique
1
min
0
max
0
mean
0
median
0
std
0
q1
0
q3
0
iqr
0
skew
0
kurtosis
0
n_outliers
0
outlier_rate
0
zero_rate
1