Questions tagged [skyfield]

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12 votes
0 answers
259 views

Different Earth-centered ICRF positions in GMAT and Skyfield/Spiceypy with DE421

I compared the Earth-centered positions from the Moon in the ICRF (i.e., in GCRF) using three different sources: SpiceyPy (https://pypi.org/project/spiceypy/) Skyfield (https://rhodesmill.org/...
Thibault's user avatar
  • 121
1 vote
1 answer
126 views

What are the product terms shown here representing an orbit?

I can compute Kepler parameters from a given TLE using Skyfield. I am checking the satellite information from this website and the orbit is represented as $$ 546 \times 548 \text{ km} \times 53.1 \...
jkt's user avatar
  • 153
3 votes
1 answer
98 views

Python - Beyond Orbit raises TleParseError for valid TLE [closed]

I've been using the example script for ground track from the beyond library documentation. I've been using TLEs from Celestrak's set of NOAA satellite TLEs, located here. This was working fine until I ...
confused_about_beyond's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
118 views

TLE Need help in understanding the position vector

I tried to take a TLE of an elliptical orbit and tried to calculate the position of the satellite for the next 16 hours. I understood that the position is an (x,y,z) vector which I can get in a ...
deep_rugs's user avatar
  • 101
1 vote
0 answers
215 views

satellite ground track in skyfield

I'm trying to get the geographic location (longitude & latitude of a satellite) converted from the position in space for example: position = (7033.45648791, 178.93192295, 0.00290722) Km. longitude ...
abdalla's user avatar
  • 63
3 votes
1 answer
883 views

satellite ground track calculation

I'm trying to calculate the ground track of an earth-orbiting satellite (Longitude, latitude) I found this handy way on the documentation but it's good when trying to find a single point what if I'm ...
abdalla's user avatar
  • 63
3 votes
2 answers
337 views

Why can n2yo somehow interpret this TLE but Skyfield can't? Why does it return nans and zeros for position?

@Rafa pointed out that there is at least one officially released TLE for the JWST mission after it left Earth orbit, and here's the latest one at n2yo.com: ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
1 vote
0 answers
760 views

calculating satellite position and velocity from TLE

I'm trying to calculate satellite orbit from the TLE set at first, I used several libraries including SGP4, Skyfiled to get the initial position and velocity of the satellite at the epoch time I know ...
abdalla's user avatar
  • 63
2 votes
0 answers
313 views

Calculating Which Satellite Passes are Visible - Need help

I am a beginner Python programmer. I am trying to get the code in the article "Calculating which satellites are visible" to function without success. My plan is to identify satellites that ...
Jeff's user avatar
  • 21
3 votes
0 answers
252 views

How to calculate the phase angle between satellite and sun with the use of skyfield

With the discussion that took place on answer(s) to How to calculate cone angle between two satellites given their look angles? I would like to ask if my proposal solving that question works like ...
mworion's user avatar
  • 31
1 vote
1 answer
445 views

Has Skyfield or any other SGP4-capable open-source Python package yet wrapped/implemented the new, improved SGP4 (version 8+)?

The first release on Github was in 2014. I have noticed Brandon Rhodes has contributed quite a bit to the Skyfield source code, so I will tag him here and in a comment. EDIT: I changed the title to ...
brethvoice's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
730 views

Ephemeris output from Skyfield

Is it possible to use Skyfield to propagate a TLE forwards and then output its ephemeris, rather than geometric x,y,z at some point in the future? I've worked through the examples in the API and may ...
Puffin's user avatar
  • 9,274
2 votes
1 answer
444 views

How to find/extract the semi-major axis from a TLE with Skyfield?

I have a TLE: 1 33591U 09005A 21024.46740879 .00000049 00000-0 52095-4 0 9997 2 33591 99.1927 41.5349 0014084 172.6670 187.4709 14.12449679616592 And I would like ...
lawndownunder's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
449 views

How big is Mars as seen from Phobos?

If I were standing on the surface of Phobos looking at Mars, how big would it appear in the sky? Would it be like one hand at arm's length? Or take up like a third of the sky?
questionspace's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
390 views

Local observer coordinate system at satellite panel (LVLH coordinate system)

In skyfield I want to calculate alt-az distance from one reference satellite to next (for antenna pointing simulation). My current workaround is to create the reference observer at sat1 height and ...
matbru's user avatar
  • 161
3 votes
2 answers
328 views

Skyfield, how to use https:// instead of ftp://?

Using skyfield I get the error : OSError: cannot get ftp://cddis.nasa.gov/products/iers/deltat.data because <urlopen error ftp error: TimeoutError(10060, 'Ein Verbindungsversuch ist fehlgeschlagen, ...
Uwe's user avatar
  • 48.7k
1 vote
2 answers
100 views

A dataset for Earth satellite size information?

I am lookin for a dataset where I can find or calculate the size information of an Earth satellite as described in the seconds page of this paper. It is basically the radius of the smallest sphere ...
Ege Elgun's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
222 views

How to get lunar L, B, C parameters from the Moon's 3x3 rotation matrix from the Python package Skyfield?

Answers to What are the “Moon L, B, C” angles shown in this solar eclipse simulation? explain that L and B (or "l" and "b") are the "selenographic coordinates of the Moon's apparent center" (latitude ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
7 votes
1 answer
742 views

How can I plot satellite's trajectory from three different TLEs to detect any deviation on path with time?

I have obtained TLE information of a satellite from space-track.org for three different times. I am trying to study any deviation of the satellite trajectory from its usual path. Here I am comparing ...
sudeep's user avatar
  • 71
2 votes
0 answers
920 views

How can I plot a satellite TLE from its orbital parameters using python and skyfield? [closed]

I have a function that uses TLEs (Two-line elements) from Celestrak to plot the visibility of a satellite in Python. Is there a method with skyfield or poliastro to plot a TLE from given orbital ...
benben's user avatar
  • 21
1 vote
1 answer
170 views

What is ephem's body size attribute equivalent in Skyfield?

I am porting some code that uses PyEphem to using Skyfield. Somewhere along the code I use the body's size attribute: ...
Ricardo Antunes's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
461 views

How to satellite-to-site range given site coordinates and satellite ephemeris?

How can I calculate the distance of a position on earth to a satellite (for example a GPS satellite)? The satellites position is exactly known by its ephemeris data. In a related question I've asked ...
cy8berpunk's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

How can I calculate if a satellite is currently in sunlight or eclipse using pyEphem or Skyfield (preferred)?

I'd like to add this to some existing python scripts to model cubesat battery life and payload temperature but the math escapes me.
cubeuser1422's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
528 views

What does it mean to ask for a date beyond epoch time?

I am fairly new to this industry. As I am playing around with a library on Python, ephem, I have encountered an error saying that: ...
Danial Kosarifa's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
420 views

How to calculate a satellite LTAN on the basis of Cartesian coordinates in GCRS frame?

I have calculated the Cartesian coordinates of a satellite in GCRS frame using Skyfield package in python. Propagating the sun-synchronius orbit, I want to analyse the change in its LTAN. How could I ...
Leeloo's user avatar
  • 783
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

How to calculate cone angle between two satellites given their look angles?

I have the azimuth, elevation and distance of 2 satellites relative to a ground station, defined by latitude and longitude, as I've discussed in my previous question. I'm using the satellites' TLEs ...
Leeloo's user avatar
  • 783
8 votes
1 answer
6k views

What is the difference between GCRS and J2000 frames?

What is the difference between GCRS and J2000 frames? Which is commonly used worldwide in satellite communications? I've read a statement here, that ...
Leeloo's user avatar
  • 783
19 votes
3 answers
23k views

How can I plot a satellite's orbit in 3D from a TLE using Python and Skyfield?

I have obtained a Two Line Element (TLE) of a satellite in Earth orbit from Celestrak at https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/ and I would like to use it to calculate an orbit. How can I calculate the ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
10 votes
1 answer
594 views

What exactly is the interaction that blocked Juno's data downlink near solar conjunction?

According to Space.com's article Juno Phones Home: Jupiter Probe Reconnects with Earth After 8th Flyby, Juno's recent close flyby of Jupiter and data collection happened while Jupiter was too close to ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Does it even make sense to talk about Mercury's triangular libration points (L4, L5)?

The recent question How much radiation shielding would be required for a habitat at Mercury–Sun L5? got me thinking. There are a large number of disadvantages and challenges to building or putting a ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
2 votes
2 answers
501 views

Ephemeris for lunar body-centered body-fixed coordinates?

I'm going to try to do a modest simulation of the Moon's libration as seen from the Earth (geocenter), similar to the technical one's I've shown in this question. I'll do it in Python and render it in ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
54 votes
3 answers
11k views

Is 75 meters an exceptionally close distance for two satellites to pass at >6,000 m/s?

While researching for this question I ran across something called Celestrak Socrates. I requested the ten closest predicted approaches, and saw distances of closest approach of the order of 100 ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
3 votes
1 answer
4k views

Better way to get approximate ground track for a satellite using Skyfield?

I wanted to make a quick ground-track plot, so I used the Python package Skyfield to propagate a TLE and return Earth-Centered Inertial coordinates. Then I created a ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
4 votes
1 answer
535 views

JPL Horizons original reference orbit data for Juno - how to retrieve now that it's been updated?

Because of the slow helium valve responses, Juno was not instructed to execute the large delta-v maneuver to drop from the ~53 day orbit to the ~14 day orbit originally scheduled for 2016-Oct-19. I'd ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
5 votes
1 answer
317 views

Was the time of Schiaparelli's landing chosen specifically so the Giant Meter Wave Radiotelescope could listen?

The ESA blog post Listening to an Alien Landing describes the plan to monitor a UHF beacon transmitted by Schiaparelli during it's upcoming descent and landing on Mars (2016-10-19 about 14:45 UT). The ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
6 votes
1 answer
484 views

Need help getting the true ICRF coordinates of SOHO using Horizons

In this answer I calculated the approximate angular separation between Mercury and the Sun as seen by the SOHO satellite using Skyfield's method of ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
4 votes
1 answer
597 views

How to (correctly) rotate this data so the Ecliptic is in the XY plane?

When plotting orbits using the Python package Skyfield, the coordinates are barycentric ICRS. This puts the center of mass of the solar system at the origin, but the $\hat{z}$ axis is tilted about 23° ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
4 votes
3 answers
524 views

Asteroid 2013 TX68 March 5, 2016 close approach, and calculating with Skyfield

This NASA webpage describes the close approach of asteroid 2013 TX68 on March 5, 2016 and shows a probability distribution of the point of closest approach based on the only data available at this ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
14 votes
4 answers
19k views

How to obtain UTC of the epoch time in a satellite TLE (two line element)?

I want to convert the epoch time of a TLE to UTC. At this moment I am less interested in explanations and history - I just want to know quantitatively, with certainty, how to convert. I'm confused ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
6 votes
2 answers
5k views

Time, UTC, Julian Date, TLE epoch - how are they related quantitatively?

I am trying to understand the relationship (quantitatively) between JulianDate, UTC, and the epoch of Two Line Elements. It's a deep subject, especially if you include relativity, and a long subject - ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
9 votes
1 answer
4k views

How to get earth-centered, earth-fixed coordinates from Skyfield?

I recently started using Skyfield (python) to find (x, y, z) coordinates of things in space. Now I'd like to transform between Earth-Centered, Earth-Fixed (rotating) and Earth-Centered Inertial (non-...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k