REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING

[ChrisGreaves]

REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING has been providing me with an icon of the space-station Zarya as it orbits the earth about once per 90 minutes or so.
As a Home page it has its merits (reminding me,on a pseudo-random basis, that there are other parts of the planet).
It has allowed me to monitor/watch the marriage of STS-130, as the shuttle drew nearer and nearer to the space station.
As I write (3 .a.m. EST Wednesday) they appear to be docked, although at this resolution it is hard to tell.

I see that my link has not carried the resolution - you'll have to zoom in - and that it has not carried the centering - you'll have to select a satellite then choose the option "Keep current selection centered ".

I grew up in this space age, but am still amazed that in the time it took me to type "I see that .." and to check the centering setting, the pair have traveled from London" to Bratislava.
Some honey-moon!

(2021/05/25) the link given above produces "Error 69001 - Contact webmaster" today,
"https://www.n2yo.com/" appears to work for me.

[johbot]

Thanks for the link, Chris.

There are some REALLY annoying very flashy ads on the page that are driving me away. And unless I sign in, I cannot set my location. It has assumed my location from my IP address which is (because I connect via satellite) in Sydney. No chance of seeing a satellite travelling overhead Sydney from here!

How would I find out the name of the satellite that connects the internet to me, I wonder? Would it be a geostationary geosynchronous one?

[ChrisGreaves]

There are some REALLY annoying very flashy ads on the page that are driving me away. And unless I sign in, I cannot set my location. It has assumed my location from my IP address which is (because I connect via satellite) in Sydney. No chance of seeing a satellite traveling overhead Sydney from here! How would I find out the name of the satellite that connects the internet to me, I wonder? Would it be a geostationary geosynchronous one?

I'll try to address the questions one by one. It took me about 15 minutes to get comfortable with the site. I think it is written for astronomers === mathematicians.

1.JPG

Start by going to the link shown above, and look in the top-left area (circled) for either STS-130 or ISS. In fact, no matter where you end up, clicking on one of them should get you somewhere.
I'm assuming that once you get to a google-map you can zoom in etc.
Of course, since you are in Australia, probably all your maps are upside down, right?

[ChrisGreaves]

How would I find out the name of the satellite that connects the internet to me, I wonder? Would it be a geostationary geosynchronous one?

2.JPG

If you have clicked on one of the most popular (STS-130 or ISS) you'll end up at a page like this.
Your tracking list starts off empty. You can add satllites to your tracking list, one by one.
I started off with ISS, and when I learned how to add STS-130, the two icons showed up this close and a little while later they were married/docked.

[ChrisGreaves]

And unless I sign in, I cannot set my location. It has assumed my location from my IP address which is (because I connect via satellite) in Sydney. No chance of seeing a satellite traveling overhead Sydney from here!

As a punched-card enthusiast it will take me a while to wrap my head around using satellite/internet technology to instruct someone how to view two satellites via a satellite ISP, but ....
I think the "location" is used only to show a little house on the Google maps. In my display, Toronto consists of a little Monopoly House. Big deal. Who cares? Right now I'd not worry too much about location; the thrill for me is watching the ISS sail out across Japan across the pacific, in real time.

3.JPG

[ChrisGreaves]

No chance of seeing a satellite traveling overhead Sydney from here!

4.JPG

This is how you find out what satellites, if any, ought to be visible above your location in real time. If STS-130 is over Japan, it won't show up as over Toronto right now. For this you may want to set your location. (Not much point in Toronto, city of the you-can-see-Jupiter-if-you're-lucky light pollution.

[ChrisGreaves]

And unless I sign in, I cannot set my location.

So sign in already!I went through the process just now using a fake name, even a fake password. For the question "name of your first pet" I used "Johbot". I hope you don't mind (G&DR!)

5.JPG

[ChrisGreaves]

There are some REALLY annoying very flashy ads on the page that are driving me away.

I don't get flashy ads at all on any of the n2yo pages; I suspect that might be a feature of the ISP at your end.
Anyone else out there getting cheap flashy ads?

[ChrisGreaves]

Thanks for the link, Chris.

(I bet you wish you'd never asked!).
One last thing: You can't center the map on the selection until you have clicked on one satellite. This is the nifty feature I like. No matter what the time of day, the display on my screen updates by the second to show me where the satellite is.

6.JPG

Thassit! I'm outa here .....

[johbot]

(I bet you wish you'd never asked!).

I knew that I would get a good solid answer from you, that's WHY I asked!!

but the jury is still out on using my name for you fake pet!

[ChrisGreaves]

... using my name for you fake pet!

I lied. You're not my fake pet .....

[ChrisGreaves]

REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING

A neat byproduct is seen in the screenshot of satellite view (!) of Google maps. The locality of the satellite is tracked by the second, too!

5.JPG

[Sundog]

Chris, how did you get

the screenshot of satellite view (!) of Google maps

?

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris, how did you get the screenshot of satellite view

PrtScr (Grin!)

1. I pulled up the view,
2. selected the shuttle,
3. chose "Keep current selection centered",
4. switched Google maps to satellite view (as distinct from Maps), then
5. zoomed in.

It works best over land (G&DR!)

I mentioned this earlier in the thread - it's not the most intuitive of web sites ...

[Sundog]

OK! I thought somehow you had automagically enabled maps.google.com to show satellites!

[ChrisGreaves]

I thought somehow you had automagically

No, but don't tell Johbot; she still thinks I'm clever.

[Samantha]

I thought somehow you had automagically

No, but don't tell Johbot; she still thinks I'm clever.

I suspect she's got your number by now.

[ChrisGreaves]

I suspect she's got your number by now.

Oh, she's got more than my number .....

[johbot]

All this talk about me ... I slept peacefully all the way through it.

[ChrisGreaves]

I slept peacefully all the way through it.

... as usual.