Canopus56 wrote:
--- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
Thanks but (blush) your praise is misdirected . . . I get those [ground track points] via a service I've subscribed to on the web.
So, where do I send my subscription money? - C
Happily the service is free. Unhappily the signup page has been down for weeks. Here's a page that describes ISS transits: http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Tips-ISS-Transits.htm BTW, the guy that generates the reports is looking for someone to help him out. Here's part of a copy of his most recent report, including his request for help: ********************************************************************************* Who wants to generate ISS Transit reports for a while? I have limited free time these days, and I could better use my time to do some related things like getting the signup page back online. Based upon a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 with 1 GB of memory, generating (currently 400) reports takes about 5 minutes, while emailing them can take 7 minutes to an hour (typically, about 10 minutes), depending on how reponsive the net is (once started, emailing requires no operator attention). Minimum hardware requirements are a 1 GHz Pentium 3, with about 500 MB of memory. Reply to tfly@alumni.caltech.edu ********************************************************************************* Reference notes: http://iss-transit.sourceforge.net/alert-notes.html TLEs used for orbit computation follow this report. A - travel distance (kilometers) and direction B - date C - time (hhmmss) D - elevation angle of the ISS E - azimuth angle of the ISS ( + is East from North; - is W from N) F - range (kilometers) G - latitude for observing the transit H - longitude I - elevation above Mean Sea Level (meters) J - how far (kilometers) can I be from the centerline? (i.e., angular error = 0.25°) For other than solar transits: K - lunar transits: is space station sunlit? planetary encounters: 1=Mercury; 2=Venus; 4=Mars; 5=Jupiter; 6=Saturn L - sun elevation angle M - sun/moon or sun/planet separation angle A------- B----- C----- D--- E----- F--- G------- H-------- I--- J---- K L---- M---- 36.1 SW 11 Feb 13514 58.4 -111.5 412 40.3668 -112.5347 2073 1.9 n -61.6 159.5 28.8 SW 11 Feb 13515 58.3 -111.5 412 40.4081 -112.4595 1568 1.9 n -61.5 159.5 22.4 S 11 Feb 13516 58.2 -111.5 412 40.4485 -112.3875 1543 1.9 n -61.4 159.5 16.7 S 11 Feb 13517 58.2 -111.5 414 40.4881 -112.3174 1830 1.9 n -61.4 159.5 13.0 S 11 Feb 13518 58.1 -111.5 414 40.5280 -112.2467 2005 1.9 n -61.3 159.5 12.6 SE 18.50 40.5479 -112.2111 1.9 13.0 SE 11 Feb 13519 58.0 -111.4 414 40.5678 -112.1755 2149 1.9 n -61.3 159.5 17.2 E 11 Feb 13520 58.0 -111.4 414 40.6089 -112.0999 1659 1.9 n -61.2 159.5 23.2 E 11 Feb 13521 57.9 -111.4 414 40.6494 -112.0260 1446 1.9 n -61.1 159.5 29.9 E 11 Feb 13522 57.8 -111.4 414 40.6897 -111.9526 1304 1.9 n -61.1 159.5 37.0 E 11 Feb 13523 57.8 -111.3 415 40.7297 -111.8800 1307 1.9 n -61.0 159.5 46.2 NW 21 Feb 40818 14.7 146.4 1077 40.9317 -112.6867 1278 6.1 n -36.0 88.1 34.6 NW 21 Feb 40819 14.8 146.5 1072 40.8569 -112.5919 1265 6.1 n -36.0 88.1 22.4 NW 21 Feb 40820 14.9 146.6 1067 40.7759 -112.4920 1479 6.0 n -35.9 88.1 11.6 NW 21 Feb 40821 15.0 146.6 1064 40.7069 -112.4029 1280 6.0 n -35.9 88.1 1.0 SW 21 Feb 40822 15.1 146.7 1059 40.6319 -112.3088 1302 6.0 n -35.9 88.1 13.2 SE 21 Feb 40823 15.2 146.8 1054 40.5447 -112.2045 1779 6.0 n -35.8 88.1 24.9 SE 21 Feb 40824 15.3 146.8 1049 40.4668 -112.1087 1930 6.0 n -35.8 88.1 35.2 SE 21 Feb 40825 15.4 146.9 1046 40.4017 -112.0239 1628 6.0 n -35.7 88.1 46.0 SE 21 Feb 40826 15.5 147.0 1041 40.3315 -111.9351 1513 5.8 n -35.7 88.1