Add ISS, shuttle or other satellite to Stellarium

backboiler

Any Stellarium experts out there?

It's possible to get orbital elements from the likes of heavens-above.com for any of the objects for which it does predictions. The current STS-127 values are:

[HTML]
1 35633U 09038A 09198.35671998 -.00820698 11851-4 -29049-3 0 101
2 35633 051.6375 152.0439 0043417 325.3934 179.5467 16.21549839 233
[/HTML]

It renders the following human readable form from that.

Epoch (UTC): 08:33:40, Friday, July 17, 2009
Eccentricity: 0.0043417
Inclination: 51.6375°
Perigee height: 187 km
Apogee height: 244 km
Right Ascension of ascending node: 152.0439°
Argument of perigee: 325.3934°
Revolutions per day: 16.21549839
Mean anomaly at epoch: 179.5467°
Orbit number at epoch: 23


I found this page that has an explanation of how to add comets to Stellarium, given NASA-style orbital elements, which are in a slightly different format but would surely have to contain the same information, right?

I've plugged in the numbers (did all angles mod 360 degrees - ?) and added the result to Stellarium's "ssystem.ini" and all I get when I search for the STS-127 object is a point with that name in the centre of the ground below along with a new "Earth" object (I didn't edit the "Earth" entry).
This is the section I added for the above figures.

[STS-127]
name = STS-127
parent = Earth
radius = 0.04 # 40 m (just to get started)
oblateness = 0.9
halo = false
color = 1.0,1.0,1.0
tex_halo = star16×16.png # Doesn't matter for now.
tex_map = nomap.png # Again
albedo = 0.85 # Made up.
coord_func = ell_orbit
orbit_Epoch = 2455029.85671
orbit_Period = 0.06166939652108959939
orbit_SemiMajorAxis = 0.00000144052852493551
orbit_Eccentricity = 0.0043417
orbit_Inclination = 51.6375
orbit_AscendingNode = 152.0439
orbit_LongOfPericenter = 117.4373
orbit_MeanLongitude = 296.9840

Is the problem with rounding on floating point calculations with such a short orbit or is there something in Stellarium that makes it unable or unsuitable for this kind of object?
I've re-checked the calculations but maybe someone a bit more tuned in could have a check to see if I'm going wrong at that step.

Dr Pepper

Arg! You broke my Stellarium :P I've tried playing around with some of the figures but the results are mostly the same. (Stationary object towards the centre of the Earth!)

There are some threads about this on Stellarium.org forum:

http://sourceforge.net/search/?forum_id=278769&type_of_search=forums&group_id=48857&words=ISS

Don't have time to read them now as I'm trying to get out of work but you may find your answer there! Post it here if you do find the solution, cheers.

jumpguy

Did abit of looking and I'm pleased to find they have developed a plugin (it's in it's early stages, apparently.) It can track not only the ISS, but lots of satellites.

Info:
http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Satellites_plugin

Download:
http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Download
(Scroll down to the bottom of the page, 3rd bullet point under "For Stellarium 0.10.2/Win32". So it appears to be Windows only atm.)

I'll download it myself and report back later, currently on laptop and Stellarium only runs on the PC.

I might install Stellarium myself. I'm currently using Starry Night Pro Plus 6, and when it's installed it takes up a good 11 gigabytes (which is insanely big; that's bigger than Windows itself).

Stargate

-JammyDodger-

LoL i was reading with interest ;-)

Yea , agreed Starry Night is far too big , just in from work myself , so i pop by later , hope you get it sorted , in the meantime , i was saying to you last night



I use 2 programmes for tracking , 2 great progs >>>>>


1 ......Nova For Windows
http://www.nlsa.com/rectangular.html


2.......Wxtrack
http://www.satsignal.eu/software/wxtrack_at_work.htm



If you want to try them out , they are great for tracking ALL sats

Talk to you soon

Stagate

jumpguy

Just downloaded it and tested it out. It works like you'd expect! Gives the nature of the Satellite, and for those who have a transmitter/reciever handy, it gives frequencies, even taking into account Doppler shift (I think anyway). Gives altitude (off the ground) and range. Excellent tool for spotting the satellites (including ISS), or seeing what satellite you might've seen in the past!

Downloading and installing goes easy too.

Ostrom

Thanks for this, cant wait to give it a try! JD would be interested to hear which one you prefer? Im trying to fine the thread where (i think it was stargate) posted instructions for putting details in manually, anyone remember?

efla

efla wrote: »

Thanks for this, cant wait to give it a try! JD would be interested to hear which one you prefer? Im trying to fine the thread where (i think it was stargate) posted instructions for putting details in manually, anyone remember?

By JD I assume you mean me? There are a couple of people who go by JD around, but I'm guess I'm who you're talking about!

I've never really used any astronomy software other than Starry Night Pro Plus, it's a brilliant program, although it's not free (it's worth quite a bit, and I can't reveal on this site where I obtained it). It automatically updates itself daily, and it tracks pretty much every satellite that there is (including the Shuttle when it's launched). It's great for Iridium flares, too.

I'm going to install Stellarium and a few others that Stargate linked too, because they're probably easier to use. They're also a lot smaller (the one I use is 11 gigabytes when installed, which is insanely large).

I remember that thread alright, but I can't seem to find it myself either. I don't think it was Stargate who gave the details, though.

Dr Pepper

efla wrote: »

Thanks for this, cant wait to give it a try! JD would be interested to hear which one you prefer? Im trying to fine the thread where (i think it was stargate) posted instructions for putting details in manually, anyone remember?

I think the thread you're looking for is here (5th post):
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055485121

Gives details for manually adding Comet Lulin to Stellarium.

Ostrom

Can someone save me from myself - am I correct in saying I need to follow the procedure laid out in the other thread (cited above) to input the details supplied in this one?

Stargate

efla wrote: »

Can someone save me from myself - am I correct in saying I need to follow the procedure laid out in the other thread (cited above) to input the details supplied in this one?

efla

that link was for comet Lulin .

If you are looking to track the ISS , that file is no good to you ,
we need a text file containing info for the ISS or SS . i think thats what -JammyDodger- was trying to get .

Stargate

Ostrom

Stargate wrote: »

efla

that link was for comet Lulin .

If you are looking to track the ISS , that file is no good to you ,
we need a text file containing info for the ISS or SS . i think thats what -JammyDodger- was trying to get .

Stargate

Thanks, the problem seems to be with the install itself - I cant run the latest version without the text appearing completely obscured in all dialog boxes. I can run the satellite plugin in version 10.2 (latest) with no text, but if I want to use it at all, I need to install an earlier version...

Calibos

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

I might install Stellarium myself. I'm currently using Starry Night Pro Plus 6, and when it's installed it takes up a good 11 gigabytes (which is insanely big; that's bigger than Windows itself).

The install is only that big if you decide to install the Full AllSky CCD mosaic files to your HDD. ie, instead of rendered stars and DSO's the program displays the sky using real CCD imagery. There are several levels of higher resolution images for the full sky that are displayed as you zoom in (Like google earth) Thats a hell of a lot of data. It does flip to rendered imagery beyond a certain point because if they were to do Full CCD at every zoom level right down to arc minute levels, you'd need 100's of terabytes of storage space!

You'd know all this if you had the box in front of you!

Calibos

Calibos wrote: »

The install is only that big if you decide to install the Full AllSky CCD mosaic files to your HDD. ie, instead of rendered stars and DSO's the program displays the sky using real CCD imagery. There are several levels of higher resolution images for the full sky that are displayed as you zoom in (Like google earth) Thats a hell of a lot of data. It does flip to rendered imagery beyond a certain point because if they were to do Full CCD at every zoom level right down to arc minute levels, you'd need 100's of terabytes of storage space!

Oh I know! And that's one of the main reasons I've been using it, it does give very beautiful images of the night. I'm going to stop using it though, it's just too big (or I may just disable and delete the all-sky images), and it doesn't really do what I want it to do.

I'm using Nova for Windows for tracking most objects (thanks to Stargate for the recommendation), but I don't know what program to use for making out sky-charts etc.

Any recommendations?

You'd know all this if you had the box in front of you!

I have the box infront of me!:p

Calibos

Oh!

I thought 'it's worth quite a bit, and I can't reveal on this site where I obtained it'

meant you didn't have a hard copy but downloaded it bit by bit

Thought that was why you were so vague.

I see now. You just didn't want to admit that you paid twice the price at the A&S shop and helped line David Moores pockets!

No, no... You were right the first time... But shhh!:D

backboiler

I see a quick pop-up message in the bottom-right corner every now and then saying something like "Updating TLEs". I wonder if it adds new objects (like Shuttles when they launch, detach, change orbit) or just updates the elements for those objects already there. Haven't been at a computer long enough to figure out a pattern to it. It'd be simple enough to do a wee script to scrape heavens-above for these anyway i'd say (once you knew what you were looking for).