helloallworlds
#36. Satellite Hunting
Here are this week's 3 links worth exploring:
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Scott Tilley is an amateur radio astronomer who tracks spacecraft in LEO (low earth orbit). This week he hosted a Satellite Hunting Hack Chat where he shared how he got started with satellite tracking, tools and methods used, and advice for newbies to track their own interests in the sky. Transcript: https://hackaday.io/event/192573-satellite-hunting-hack-chat
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Scott writes a blog - "Riddles in the Sky" - dedicated to observing satellites. Going beyond spotting and tracking satellites with the naked eye requires an understanding of basic orbital dynamics, which this post explains: https://skyriddles.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/basic-orbital-dynamics/
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SatDump is open source general purpose satellite data processing software: https://github.com/SatDump/SatDump/
Quote of the Week: "[A] summary of what I think are necessary skills for satellite tracking. Knowledge of the night sky and basic astronomy. Analytical skills to perform calculations and reduction of data. Good experimental skills to collect reliable data and understand error management. Research skills to find useful information to develop your work. The tech side of things will come. But one needs to understand the general concepts and have a good grasp of the scientific method and be willing to be beat up by it for a long time." — Scott Tilley
Onward!
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