# skymap Mini HOWTO HOWTO find a particular satellite for viewing with skymap for use with stvid imaging. From notes by Cees Bassa mixed with my misunderstandings. This example will use the Bluewalker 3 satellite, with NORAD ID 53807. # TLE First a TLE is needed. I get this from Celestrak, ala: ``` wget -O ~/devel/spacecruft/TLE/bluewalker3/bluewalker3.tle \ "https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/gp.php?CATNR=53807" ``` Should look something like this: ``` BLUEWALKER 3 1 53807U 22111AL 22323.16311390 .00001894 00000+0 10565-3 0 9997 2 53807 53.2016 312.3504 0014195 129.0685 231.1577 15.18596984 10510 ``` # Skymap Script Run skymap (with my branch): ``` #!/bin/bash LENGTH=86400 TIME="2022-11-19T17:20:45.000" TLE=~/devel/spacecruft/TLE/bluewalker3/bluewalker3.tle SITE=9990 LAT="40.568912" LONG="-105.225852" # Set elevation in data/sites.txt # 9990 JM 40.568912 -105.225852 1843 Jeff Moe #ELEVATION="1843" skymap \ --no-stars \ --width=1600 \ --height=1000 \ --all-objects \ --nmax=128 \ --length=${LENGTH} \ --catalog=${TLE} \ --latitude="${LAT}" \ --longitude="${LONG}" \ --time="${TIME}" ``` # Skymap Window Overview ![skymap tutorial main](img/skymap-tutorial-main.png) Above is a 24 hour (86400 seconds) prediction for Bluewalker 3 for the example location. * Grey tracks are in the shadow. * Orange tracks are in sunlight but during daytime. * Yellow tracks are in sunlight but during night time. The example has two passes during night time: * Low South East. * Low South West. ![skymap tutorial south east](img/skymap-tutorial-south-east.png) ![skymap tutorial south west](img/skymap-tutorial-south-west.png) # Skymap Interactive In interactive mode, use `l` to change the track length to 3600 secs (1 hour). To use `skymap` in interactive mode, launch `skymap` from the command line. When you hit `l` in the graphical display, the prompt will be in the terminal window. Then use `.` to move time forward with these 1 hour steps. It makes it faster if `skymap` is run without drawing stars until needed, especially during frequent re-renders. Disable viewing stars with `shift-Q`. ![skymap tutorial timestep](img/skymap-tutorial-timestep.png) At some point you'll get the first pass. * Use `<` a few times to reduce the timestep size to something like 450 seconds. * Step forward with `.` until it is above the horizon. * In example, move time forward to `00:37:37`. ![skymap tutorial 00:37:37](img/skymap-tutorial-3737.png) # Skymap Satellite Info Press `i` with the cursor near `53807`. It gives this output: ``` BLUEWALKER 3 1 53807U 22111AL 22323.16311390 .00001894 00000+0 10565-3 0 9997 2 53807 53.2016 312.3504 0014195 129.0685 231.1577 15.18596984 10510 Age: 0.9 d x: +5351.2801 km; vx: -0.38650 km/s y: -2422.0234 km; vy: +6.04035 km/s z: +3590.7817 km; vz: +4.61568 km/s r: 1633.97 km; v: -0.343 km/s l: -92.78; b: 31.44; h: 506.35 km R.A.: 01:13:17.38 Decl.: -19:10:17.4 R.A.: 01:12:10.33 Decl.: -19:17:33.2 (J2000) Azi.: 127.8 Alt.: 11.3 Phase: 53.17 Magnitude: 6.25 Angular velocity: 0.2593 (deg/s) ``` This gives you the Az/El and RA/Dec to read off. # TLE with `tleinfo` Cees dumped the TLE for `53807` into a text file with ``` tleinfo -i 53807 >53807.txt ``` This results in two TLEs, though ? XXX compare with TLE from above. ``` BLUEWALKER-3 1 53807U 22111AL 22291.57105995 .00000747 00000+0 51211-4 0 9998 2 53807 53.2021 96.3521 0013619 43.3355 316.8709 15.18466480 5717 0 BLUEWALKER 3 1 53807U 22111AL 22291.57105995 .00000747 00000-0 51211-4 0 9999 2 53807 53.2021 96.3521 0013619 43.3355 316.8709 15.18466480 5717 ``` # Views View with `e` for East. ![skymap East view](img/skymap-tutorial-east-view.png) View with `s` for South. ![skymap South view](img/skymap-tutorial-south-view.png) # gpredict This is view of BW3 in `gpredict`, for comparison. ![skymap tutorial gpredict](img/skymap-tutorial-gpredict-bw3.png) # stellarium This is view of BW3 in `stellarium`, for comparison. ![skymap tutorial stellarium](img/skymap-tutorial-stellarium-bw3.png)