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LESSON 02 OF 6

Object types and color coding

Beginner ~7 min Slide deck Free

Orbital Radar uses a consistent color system to distinguish active satellites from dead hardware, debris from payloads, and special objects from the everyday traffic. Learning the palette is the fastest way to read the sky.

Orbital Radar uses a consistent color system to distinguish active satellites from dead hardware, debris from payloads, and special objects from the everyday traffic. Learning the palette is the fastest way to read the sky.

What this lesson covers

Special Categories You'll See

Beyond the basic three, Orbital Radar highlights several categories of particular interest.

Catalogued Objects by Type

The majority of catalogued objects are debris fragments. Active payloads are actually the minority — which is why filtering matters so much when navigating the globe.

Reading Density: What Clusters Mean

Patterns in the dot density tell you something about what's going on in that region of space.

Color = type. Density = story. Learn the palette and the globe becomes readable at a glance.

Next up: clicking an object to reveal everything Orbital Radar knows about it — the data panel.

All lessons in Reading the Globe
01What you're looking at (the Orbital Radar globe)~7 min02Object types and color coding~7 min03Clicking an object: the data panel explained~8 min04Filters: finding what you want~7 min05Time controls and prediction~8 min06Pass predictions: how to use them~8 min
← What you're looking at (the Orbital Radar globe)All 6 LessonsClicking an object: the data panel explained →
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