Use the page in two stages:
Start with the top anomaly overview chart to identify unusual objects.
Select a spacecraft to investigate the charts that explain what is driving the anomaly.
This guide is intended for help center use and focuses on how to interpret the charts shown in the application.
Key terms
Relative Interest
A score representing how unusual the object’s recent behavior is.
Outlier
An object whose behavior differs significantly from the rest of the population.
Longitude Drift Rate
How quickly a GEO object is moving east or west from its expected position (relative to the ground).
Longitude
Where a GEO object is positioned along the geostationary arc.
Inclination
The tilt of the orbital plane.
Altitude
The orbital height of the object.
Close Approach
How near the object comes to other objects.
Apparent Magnitude
How bright the object appears from Earth.
Photometric Phase
How brightness changes with viewing angle and illumination geometry.
Cluster / Shell / Ring
Reference populations used to compare the object’s behavior with peers or with the broader orbital environment.
How to use the page
1) Choose the orbital regime
Use the LEO / GEO toggle to switch between populations.
LEO views focus more on altitude, close approaches, and brightness behavior.
GEO views focus more on longitude position, drift rate, and inclination control.
Always interpret a chart in the context of the selected regime.
2) Review the anomaly overview chart
The top chart shows the current anomaly level across many spacecraft.
Chart: Which objects have the highest Interest Factor score?
What it means: This chart shows the relative anomaly or interest level for many spacecraft in the selected population.
How to read it:
Each point represents a spacecraft.
The x-axis identifies the spacecraft population.
The y-axis shows Relative Interest.
The color scale moves from Nominal to Outlier.
What to look for:
Higher points are more anomalous than lower ones.
Orange or warm-colored points indicate stronger outliers.
A dense band near the bottom represents normal background behavior.
How to use it:
Start with the highest outliers.
And review the Top Five Spacecraft of Interest to see which objects the system ranks as most noteworthy.
Top Five Spacecraft of Interest
This panel lists the objects most worth reviewing in the current view.
Each card may include:
object name
country
orbit regime
NORAD ID
reason tags such as Orbital motion or Brightness variability
What the tags mean
Orbital motion: the object is standing out because of position, drift, altitude, inclination, or proximity behavior.
Brightness variability: the object is standing out because of photometric or apparent magnitude behavior.
Use these tags as your first clue before opening the detailed charts.
Selected spacecraft summary
When you click an object, the summary header shows basic context such as:
country
orbit regime
launch year
relative interest
Relative Interest
Relative Interest is the object’s anomaly score relative to expected or peer behavior.
A higher value means the object is behaving more unusually in the current analysis window. It does not automatically mean the spacecraft is malfunctioning. It means the object deserves review.
Investigation tab
The Investigation tab explains why the selected object is interesting.
Below are the chart types shown in the screenshots and how users should interpret them.
Chart guide
1. Is this object maintaining its orbital position?
Example subtitle: Longitude Drift Rate
What it means: This chart shows how quickly the spacecraft is drifting from its expected longitudinal position.
Most useful for: GEO objects.
How to read it:
A line close to zero usually means the object is holding position.
A steady positive or negative drift suggests the object is moving east or west.
A sudden change in slope may indicate a maneuver or change in control state.
What users should look for:
increasing drift over time
a jump outside expected upper or lower bounds
a new trend after a stable period
What it may indicate:
station-keeping changes
relocation to a new slot
loss or reduction of control
2. Where is this object positioned along the geostationary arc?
Subtitle: Longitude
What it means: This chart shows where a GEO spacecraft is positioned over time along the geostationary belt.
How to read it:
A nearly flat line suggests the spacecraft is staying in one orbital slot.
A gradually changing line suggests relocation or drift.
A sharp end-of-window change often means a recent maneuver or new drift behavior.
What users should look for:
slot changes
recent movement after a long stable period
movement that matches or confirms the drift-rate chart
Best practice: Read this chart together with Longitude Drift Rate:
drift rate tells you how fast the object is moving
longitude tells you where it is moving
3. Is this object’s orbital plane changing?
Subtitle: Inclination
What it means: This chart shows how the tilt of the orbital plane changes over time.
How to read it:
A flat line means the orbital plane is stable.
A slow trend can be normal, depending on the regime and mission phase.
A faster-than-usual shift may indicate a maneuver or reduced station-keeping.
What users should look for:
new slope changes
divergence from prior behavior
differences from reference baselines, when shown
What it may indicate:
reduced inclination control
end-of-life behavior
orbital maintenance changes
4. Is this object’s semi-major axis changing?
Subtitle: Semi-Major Axis
What it means: This chart shows how the object’s semi-major axis changes over time. Semi-major axis is a core orbital element that reflects the size of the orbit and is commonly used to assess whether the orbit has shifted.
Most useful for: Objects where users want to track orbit size changes over time, especially when looking for evidence of maneuvers, drag, or orbit maintenance activity.
How to read it:
A stable trace means the object’s orbit size is staying relatively consistent.
Small oscillations can be normal depending on the object’s orbital regime and the cadence of the data.
A sustained rise or fall suggests the orbit is being modified or perturbed over time.
Abrupt jumps or discontinuities may reflect maneuvers or a transition to a new orbital state.
What users should look for:
sustained increase or decrease in semi-major axis
divergence from peer baselines
a new oscillation pattern
step changes or discontinuities
What it may indicate:
maneuvers
drag or other perturbation effects
orbit maintenance changes
mission phase transitions
5. How close has this object come to other objects?
Subtitle: Close Approaches
What it means: This chart shows the object’s closest observed or estimated distance to nearby objects over time.
How to read it:
Lower values mean closer approaches.
Repeated dips may reflect recurring geometry.
A new drop to unusually small values deserves attention.
What users should look for:
decreasing minimum distance
repeated very close passes
a new trend toward smaller separations
What it may indicate:
higher conjunction relevance
co-orbital crowding
drift or altitude changes bringing the object closer to others
6. How bright does this object appear from Earth?
Subtitle: Apparent Magnitude
What it means: This chart shows how bright the object appears over time.
Important note: Astronomical magnitude runs in reverse:
lower magnitude = brighter
higher magnitude = dimmer
How to read it: The object may be shown against reference traces such as:
Mean Cluster
Mean Shell
Mean Ring
These reference lines help you compare the object with similar or nearby populations.
What users should look for:
sudden brightening or dimming
larger variability than peers
separation from cluster, shell, or ring baselines
increased scatter over time
What it may indicate:
attitude change
tumbling
changing reflective geometry
configuration or operational changes
7. How does this object’s brightness vary with viewing geometry?
Subtitle: Photometric Phase
What it means: This chart helps explain whether brightness changes are tied to observation geometry rather than to a change in the spacecraft itself.
How to read it:
If brightness changes line up with phase or viewing geometry, the behavior may be observation-driven.
If brightness remains unusual even after accounting for geometry, the behavior may be intrinsic to the object.
What users should know: Some objects may not have enough data for this chart. A missing chart does not necessarily indicate a problem.
8. How has the Interest Factor score changed over time for this object?
Subtitle: Interest Factor History
What it means: This chart shows the selected object’s own anomaly history over the analysis window.
How to read it:
A late spike suggests a recent event.
Multiple elevated points suggest persistent or repeated unusual behavior.
A flat history with one isolated increase suggests a short-lived anomaly.
How to use it: Use this chart to answer when the object became interesting. Then use the other charts to determine why.
Understanding comparison baselines
Some charts show the selected object compared with one or more population references.
Mean Cluster
Average behavior for the object’s closest peer group.
Mean Shell
Average behavior for objects in a similar orbital shell.
Mean Ring
The average behavior of a ring-level population in LEO.
How to interpret them
If the object differs only from its cluster, the anomaly may be local or peer-relative.
If it differs from cluster, shell, and ring, the anomaly is stronger and broader.
If the object stays close to all baselines, the behavior may still be noisy but not truly unusual.
Interpreting anomaly vs. operational concern
A high anomaly score does not always mean a failure.
It may reflect:
a planned maneuver
a station-keeping adjustment
a slot relocation
viewing-geometry-driven brightness changes
normal environmental variation
Users should treat the anomaly score as a review signal, not as a diagnosis.
Suggested user workflow
Quick triage workflow
Review the top anomaly overview chart.
Open one of the Top Five Spacecraft of Interest.
Check the object’s Relative Interest and reason tags.
Read the object-level Interest Factor History to understand when the anomaly emerged.
Review the detailed charts to classify the anomaly:
position-keeping
altitude
inclination
close approaches
brightness variability
Compare the object against cluster, shell, and ring baselines when available.
Decide whether the behavior looks like:
a short-lived event
a trend
a maneuver
a persistent divergence
Common mistakes to avoid
Do not assume anomalous means bad.
Do not forget that lower apparent magnitude means brighter.
Do not interpret a single point without checking neighboring charts and neighboring objects.
Do not compare GEO and LEO behavior the same way.
Do not over-interpret missing photometric data.
Final takeaway
Anomaly Analytics is designed to help users move from detection to interpretation:
the top panel tells you which objects stand out
the detailed charts tell you what kind of behavior is driving that anomaly
Use the full set of charts together for the most accurate interpretation.