Stellarium

some satellites won't show

Asked by bruno vianna

i added the geostationary satellites from celestrak. i used the php script in the satellite plugin page for that. i'm particularly interested in the arabsat-5a. but the satellite doesn't show on the view; the data appears as:

ARABSAT 5-A

Geo
Ra/de (j2000): 0h0mnans/0º 0'0nan"
---

(i can't copy/paste, but basically all data shows up as either 0 or nan).

I checked for a few other geostationary satellites and many seem to have the same issue, like arabsat-2b, astra 2c, astra 1g. I looked into the json file and it looks good; if i copy over the tle data from a satellite that has no issue, it works - in wrong position of course. I checked the tle data from other sources and it looks good. Seems like an issue with a specific range of TLEs, I don't know.

any ideas?

thanks

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Alexander Wolf
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Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said : 		#1

You need update section [Satellites] in config.ini - update TLE-sources:
tle_url0 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/education.txt
tle_url1 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/goes.txt
tle_url10 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/intelsat.txt
tle_url11 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/gorizont.txt
tle_url12 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/raduga.txt
tle_url13 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/molniya.txt
tle_url14 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/glo-ops.txt
tle_url15 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/sbas.txt
tle_url16 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/nnss.txt
tle_url17 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/musson.txt
tle_url18 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/science.txt
tle_url19 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/geodetic.txt
tle_url2 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/gps-ops.txt
tle_url20 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/engineering.txt
tle_url21 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/noaa.txt
tle_url3 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/galileo.txt
tle_url4 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/visual.txt
tle_url5 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/amateur.txt
tle_url6 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/iridium.txt
tle_url7 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt
tle_url8 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/education.txt
tle_url9 = http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/geo.txt

Download and replace satellites.json - http://astro.uni-altai.ru/~aw/stellarium/satellites.json

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bruno vianna (bruno-pobox) said : 		#2

thanks alexander!

by looking at your json file, i realized i was using an outdate version of the plugin. i downloaded the source and compiled in linux, and used your files. but now the satellites blink and go, i can only see them for a frame. if i stop the simulation they disappear entirely.

i'm on ubuntu 10.10, stellarium 0.10.6, sat plugin 0.6.4

regards,
bruno

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Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said : 		#3

Please try simply change 0.6.4 to 0.6.3 into json file

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Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said : 		#4

And try update TLE via sat plugin

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bruno vianna (bruno-pobox) said : 		#5

ok, i tried both.

when i change the json 0.6.4 to 0.6.3 and restart, a message comes up "invalid json file - using default file". the json file is replaced by the default, the satellites still blink and the orbits show up for the first time.

then i restarted it (using the default json) and no satellites showed at all. but i looked for a specific satellite, and it seems like all are grouped in one spot.

i updated the TLEs, and got the message 0/703 satellites updated, 3 not found.

thanks for your help

Revision history for this message
Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said : 		#6

Sorry, 0.6.4 to 0.6.5 for source-compiled Stellarium

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bruno vianna (bruno-pobox) said : 		#7

ok - now all satellites appear grouped in on spot, "TEME coordinates: X: -0.00, Y: -0.00, Z: -0.01"

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Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said : 		#8

Ops... It's a bug

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bruno vianna (bruno-pobox) said : 		#9

... should I fill a bug report?
what version should i go back to if I want to use it now?

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Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said : 		#10

Workaround: in shell put "export LC_NUMERIC=C" after "stellarium"

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Best Alexander Wolf (alexwolf) said : 		#11

Run "export LC_NUMERIC=C && stellarium" in shell

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bruno vianna (bruno-pobox) said : 		#12

Thanks Alexander Wolf, that solved my question.

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bruno vianna (bruno-pobox) said : 		#13

thanks!