Some sitrec questions, and suggestions?

[Maury Markowitz]

I'm trying to identify a satellite in a video posted on Reddit. It was near Boulder, so I put in 40.015, -105.27, and converted 8.30 PM local on 30/9 to 2:30 AM UTC 1/10, and set the Time zone to MDT. This produces a display showing 2024-09-30 20:30 MDT at the bottom (36 in this case, for reasons below...)

I cannot see anything interesting in the view. Someone then posted a link to Heaven's Above showing there was an ISS pass at that time. I tried everything I could think of, but I cannot see this in sitrec. The link shows it passing over Antares around 20:36:30 local, and looking around that time I simply don't see it. And it would be mag -1.7,

So... is ISS something that has to be turned on somewhere? I see plenty of of SL's about.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

Some notes/suggestions:

1) it would be extremely useful if sitrec automatically set the time zone based on the camera's ground location and the date settings. It's just one more setting to forget to set properly.

2) likewise, it would be useful if we could enter the time in local. perhaps a second set of boxes in the time menu?

3) I am not sure how I triggered this, but in the snap above you can see that the size of the satellite labels is linked to their brightness. This renders the labels unreadable. I played around with the settings, turning "view sats" on and off, and that seemed to fix it. I'll file a bug report if I can duplicate it.

4) when satellite names are turned on, they are drawn directly over the satellite itself, which makes the "dot" invisible in most cases.

 

[jarlrmai]

I don't think it has any other TLEs other than Starlink at the moment.

As far as I know it's pretty much a starlink finder at the moment and has custom versions for some of the most popular UFO videos.

Stellarium or in-the-sky is generally a better generic satellite finder at the moment. in-the-sky has the most accurate positional data though.

 

[Maury Markowitz]

I don't think it has any other TLEs other than Starlink at the moment.

Ahh. That is sad. Can this be addressed with the loadable sitches?

 

[jarlrmai]

I don't think it has any other TLEs other than Starlink at the moment.

Ahh. That is sad. Can this be addressed with the loadable sitches?

I don't think so, I think @flarkey has asked for the TLEs of common bright satellites to be added. But I am not sure where that is in Micks priorities.

 

[flarkey]

I don't think so, I think @flarkey has asked for the TLEs of common bright satellites to be added. But I am not sure where that is in Micks priorities.

You can drag & drop TLEs for any satellite into Sitrec and it will show it. To get TLEs for a certain date I tend to use space-track.org. The UI can be tricky so I just tend to amend the URL to give me what I want for when I want

https://www.space-track.org/basicsp...D_CAT_ID,EPOCH/format/3le/OBJECT_NAME/Zarya~~

This is the ISS tle data for the last week of September. (note that the OP in the reddit post got the date wrong. Its 28 Sep)

0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.05709491 .00033983 00000-0 60866-3 0 9993
2 25544 51.6390 180.7147 0007027 29.5536 157.7477 15.49612377474031
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.15254580 .00039746 00000-0 70964-3 0 9991
2 25544 51.6368 180.2427 0007265 29.2317 330.9077 15.49624876474050
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.17270375 .00055367 00000-0 98289-3 0 9990
2 25544 51.6400 180.1455 0006737 28.3332 84.3431 15.49644020474054
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.24123484 .00023788 00000-0 42867-3 0 9999
2 25544 51.6403 179.8064 0006693 28.3183 106.9230 15.49639069474069
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.50548961 .00025604 00000-0 46094-3 0 9994
2 25544 51.6396 178.4912 0006945 35.6783 134.6903 15.49620685474108
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.74952547 .00038071 00000-0 67913-3 0 9994
2 25544 51.6387 177.2848 0007198 31.1567 61.5728 15.49670415474148
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.86191490 .00037569 00000-0 67014-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6368 176.7297 0007257 31.8982 328.2445 15.49677938474161
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24269.86191490 .00037569 00000-0 67014-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6368 176.7297 0007257 31.8982 328.2445 15.49677938474161
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.13869682 .00038772 00000-0 69072-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6382 175.3594 0007169 33.3475 71.9465 15.49699955474200
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.18434696 .00039484 00000-0 70308-3 0 9995
2 25544 51.6367 175.1331 0007203 32.9946 327.1491 15.49704268474217
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.27490167 -.00001816 00000-0 -24046-4 0 9999
2 25544 51.6389 174.6848 0006594 36.6563 109.0334 15.49706506474227
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.44228964 .00032618 00000-0 58244-3 0 9990
2 25544 51.6368 173.8560 0007236 33.8648 326.2801 15.49718049474253
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.64985763 .00035392 00000-0 63060-3 0 9993
2 25544 51.6387 172.8295 0007608 35.3120 43.6221 15.49736122474284
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.77166418 .00036493 00000-0 64976-3 0 9995
2 25544 51.6384 172.2230 0007265 35.7383 3.2105 15.49743525474309
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.82919909 .00030039 00000-0 53678-3 0 9999
2 25544 51.6366 171.9406 0007236 35.0669 325.0795 15.49740538474310
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24270.82919909 .00030039 00000-0 53678-3 0 9999
2 25544 51.6366 171.9406 0007236 35.0669 325.0795 15.49740538474310
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24271.11313566 .00034556 00000-0 61543-3 0 9997
2 25544 51.6364 170.5411 0006557 36.1030 109.2011 15.49768038474350
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24271.15161944 .00027818 00000-0 49755-3 0 9996
2 25544 51.6368 170.3442 0007200 35.8174 324.3297 15.49756475474366
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24271.21610298 .00027300 00000-0 48839-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6369 170.0256 0007212 35.7147 324.4323 15.49760415474370
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24271.24166001 .00047342 00000-0 83840-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6367 169.9002 0007022 35.5358 107.3006 15.49778903474372
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24271.61647620 .00031212 00000-0 55641-3 0 9991
2 25544 51.6366 168.0420 0006996 39.0130 36.3767 15.49790110474437
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24271.73879228 .00034960 00000-0 62159-3 0 9990
2 25544 51.6386 167.4308 0007078 41.3109 356.9755 15.49806168474452
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24271.79644826 .00029497 00000-0 52626-3 0 9997
2 25544 51.6371 167.1512 0007143 38.0696 322.0797 15.49795776474460
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24272.05437479 .00028099 00000-0 50151-3 0 9999
2 25544 51.6372 165.8739 0007190 38.4899 321.6601 15.49811197474508
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24272.20796705 .00072659 00000-0 12752-2 0 9991
2 25544 51.6381 165.1127 0007109 38.7030 98.9654 15.49848984474520
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24272.20796705 .00058591 00000-0 10319-2 0 9997
2 25544 51.6377 165.1137 0006922 38.3252 99.3437 15.49843852474523
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24272.57022088 .00027819 00000-0 49607-3 0 9995
2 25544 51.6370 163.3183 0007220 40.4443 319.7082 15.49842385474586
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24272.84967551 .00031284 00000-0 55618-3 0 9998
2 25544 51.6383 161.9297 0007122 42.8790 77.5237 15.49864700474623
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24272.89261992 .00027173 00000-0 48449-3 0 9995
2 25544 51.6373 161.7210 0007161 41.4790 318.6741 15.49858843474634
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.03450878 .00064770 00000-0 11375-2 0 9996
2 25544 51.6374 161.0145 0007107 42.5712 29.7789 15.49880180474654
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.15053656 .00024011 00000-0 42907-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6374 160.4435 0007114 41.8335 318.3197 15.49869966474671
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.16829237 .00064727 00000-0 11360-2 0 9995
2 25544 51.6376 160.3519 0007082 42.6325 56.6700 15.49897842474673
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.40365741 -.00074148 00000-0 -13101-2 0 9992
2 25544 51.6395 159.1861 0006820 41.1038 292.2714 15.49830582474709
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.53740646 .00027676 00000-0 49267-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6372 158.5265 0007071 43.8964 316.2585 15.49895374474737
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.53740646 .00027676 00000-0 49267-3 0 9992
2 25544 51.6372 158.5265 0007071 43.8964 316.2585 15.49895374474737
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.85979443 .00027889 00000-0 49605-3 0 9998
2 25544 51.6373 156.9300 0007109 44.4443 315.7115 15.49913497474786
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24273.86986281 .00029101 00000-0 51717-3 0 9993
2 25544 51.6373 156.8755 0007203 44.9779 11.3914 15.49913454474780
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.01236486 .00030163 00000-0 53549-3 0 9991
2 25544 51.6378 156.1679 0007157 46.4549 85.5633 15.49923873474803
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.20817618 .00022609 00000-0 40333-3 0 9997
2 25544 51.6394 155.1967 0007050 44.5095 100.8318 15.49956220474833
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.40627631 .00013723 00000-0 24831-3 0 9995
2 25544 51.6392 154.2186 0007232 45.9401 125.4774 15.49946976474861
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.50455490 .00031827 00000-0 56373-3 0 9999
2 25544 51.6367 153.7358 0007188 46.4178 313.7407 15.49960791474883
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.50455490 .00031827 00000-0 56373-3 0 9999
2 25544 51.6367 153.7358 0007188 46.4178 313.7407 15.49960791474883
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.71631628 .00032185 00000-0 56968-3 0 9999
2 25544 51.6381 152.6830 0007421 48.9438 53.5938 15.49973031474911
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.84428341 .00028761 00000-0 51008-3 0 9994
2 25544 51.6383 152.0493 0007453 48.7023 48.3483 15.49976714474935
0 ISS (ZARYA)
1 25544U 98067A 24274.89140511 .00028611 00000-0 50746-3 0 9991
2 25544 51.6367 151.8197 0007211 48.1343 312.0261 15.49979003474946

Save that as a text file and drop it into Sitrec and see what happens....

Edit: this is what you get:

Permalink: https://www.metabunk.org/u/YSGyHF.html

 

[Maury Markowitz]

Thanks flarky, I'm going to give this a try!