Stellarium

Satellite predictions, are they accurate?

Asked by diegorodriguez

Satellite visible passes seems not well predicted or complete in Stellarium. I have not been able to use it to spot any yet, and seems missing many that are correctly predicted in Heavens Above website. Can anyone confirm or deny my report?

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Matthew Gates (matthew-porpoisehead) said : 		#1

Satellite positions should be pretty accurate. When I crosscheck positions with heavens above, I get very similar values.

Please check the following things:

1. You have set the observer location correctly in Stellarium (press F6 to show the location dialog, and set your position there).

2. Your system date and time and time zone are set correctly.

3. That the Satellite TLEs are up-to-date. Note if you use a proxy server to access the web, Stellarium will not be able to download TLE data automatically. If this is the case, you should manually download the files listed as sources in the config.ini file, and then "update from file".

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diegorodriguez (diegorodriguez) said : 		#2

Thank you. I will try again.

Anyway, there is a number of objects listed in visible passes at Heavens Above that are not in Stellarium. For instance, I could spot Cosmos 1626 following HA predictions, but Stellarium didn't even list it.

I know this not Stellarium's fault, because the TLE files from Celestrak are missing them too... So, maybe Celestrak is not comprehensive enough.

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Matthew Gates (matthew-porpoisehead) said : 		#3

If you can find an internet source for these objects, you can add them.

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JAY RESPLER (jayrespler) said : 		#4

Check VISUAL.TXT on Celestrak. Cosmos 1626 IS in that list. I compile VISUAL. If you think something should be added to the list, let me know.
Jay Respler
<email address hidden>

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