Satellite Tracking

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clarenceseesstars
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 1:08 pm

Satellite Tracking

Post by clarenceseesstars »

Hi all

Anyone here has had experience doing satellite tracking using their telescope mounts? In particular the International Space Station? I'm starting on a project to make use of the Meade LX850 to do satellite tracking. On paper, the mount can slew up to 3deg/s -- which may or may not be sufficient for the whole path, but still interested to try. Let me know if anyone has prior experience, or hearsay rumours, with satellite tracking and the software you were using.

Thanks for reading!

Clarence
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in us for we are underlings." - Julius Caesar
JackWhite
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2021 5:40 pm
Favourite scope: dragonflyaerospace

Re: Satellite Tracking

Post by JackWhite »

I have experience in using caiman satellite cameras. They provide a possibility to use them and take pictures from the satellite which helped me to fill in my collection of pictures. I was taking pictures of the stars since my childhood but also I took pictures of the train stations. I have a great collection of them and this new technology gave me a new possibility to look at things from new angles. Definitely would recommend at least checking this thing out.
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Dragon Man
Posts: 89
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:11 pm
Location: Snake Valley, Australia
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Re: Satellite Tracking

Post by Dragon Man »

Jack, you are misunderstanding Clarence's request. He's not trying to image Earth or Space from a satellite in orbit, he is trying to track and image satellites in orbit from Earth, with his Telescope.

Clarence, here's one program that allow our telescopes to track satellites.

SkyTrack from HeavenScape: https://www.heavenscape.com/

There is also a simple program written by Skywatcher for tracking satellites with the Synscan App.
Scroll to the bottom of the list for the Satellite tracking software here: http://skywatcher.com/download/software/synscan-app/

and Stellarium also has satellite tracking but I'm not totally sure it will track the scope from the program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi9ZOiaLKxc
Cheers, Ken :D

Snake Valley, Australia

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President: Snake Valley Astronomical Association
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