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When the North Koreans launched, I joked to a colleague that we need Flight Tracker to see if it had achieved orbit. As it turns out, we have one: the Real Time Satellite Tracking website. You can sit at your computer and watch the Kwangmyongsong 3 chug along; in fact, when I got online I was amused to notice that it was passing only two or three hundred miles offshore from San Diego. I was not amused by initial news reports that the satellite was "tumbling out of control" (although we have all had macabre thoughts about the absolutely, politically correct crash landing site). This morning, however, South Korean sources are reporting that the satellite is orbiting normally.
Following is the basic information on the satellite; the site also provides its Two Line Element Set, a widely used data format to convey the satellite's orbit.
NORAD ID: 39026
Int'l Code: 2012-072A
Perigee: 505.3 km
Apogee: 588.3 km
Inclination: 97.4 °
Period: 95.4 minutes
Semi major axis: 6917 km
Launch date: December 12, 2012
Source: North Korea (NKOR)
Comments: KWANGMYONGSONG 3 is a North Korean Earth observation satellite, which according to the DPRK is designed for weather forecast purposes, and whose launch is widely portrayed in the West to be a veiled ballistic missile test.
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If the tracker isn't enough for you, have a look at this image of the satellite orbiting in space (warning: this may not be the satellite, but we're pretty sure it looks something like this).
