New feature request - toggle on/off proposed satellite constellations

[michelle-COMPASSE]

Dear Stellarium colleagues,

I am writing request the possibility of a new feature to Stellarium. I work with astronomers from across the world focused on dark and quiet skies issues (https://compasse.aas.org/). One of our recent efforts involves simulating satellite constellations proposed to the FCC (such as SpaceX million AI data centers, Blue Origin, etc.) to create public awareness of how the appearance of the night sky will change, given what we know from what was written in the proposals.

For example, attached is a view of how the sky will likely appear at sunrise from 30 degrees latitude, 6 hours after midnight, based on what was proposed in the Blue Origin satellite constellation.

We would like to know if we could provide you with orbital data (parameters, brightnesses values, etc.) as TLE files for proposed satellite constellations, like Blue Origin/SpaceX). Could it be possible to have them simulated in Stellarium as an optional feature? We think this would really help public education of the possible future of their night sky, given what has been proposed to the United States government.

If you would consider this option, please let me know if there would be a price-tag associated with creating and adding this feature. We would want to include it in our Committee's proposed budget for 2027.

Thanks for your consideration and take care,
Michelle

[10110111]

Can't you already provide your own TLE sources to the Satellites plugin?

[michelle-COMPASSE]

We can certainly give it a try, thanks! I don't think any of us have done this sort of thing on Stellarium before, so I appreciate the tip.

…

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[gzotti]

Thanks for this action against what is undoubtedly another crime against humanity. After all pollution in the atmosphere now the solemnity of the sky is in danger, not even speaking of negative scientific impact. For the wealth of a handful. There is no space to express my disgust for US oligarchy hybris. I must stop here ...

Not sure what to do here, technically. TLE files must be prepared by you and can be loaded from the Satellites Plugin GUI. Do you then want an easy toggle to "Switch all satellites whose name starts with 'Blue Origin'", and another for "Starlink"? And 5 more for the other mass molestors?

[JAY-Githb]

Michelle, that's not quite accurate. TLEs can hold more than 70000. We reached 69999. 70000-99999 are reserved. TLES are now 100000+. The problem is virtually all prediction programs can only handle 5 digit catalog numbers. To handle that, Numbers now start A. A0001 etc. A0001=100001. So now the new problem is all prediction programs can only accept digits. They have to be modified to accept a letter in the cat number. I've been in contact with Mike who wrote the great prediction programs. Quicksat, Highfly, and others. He worked diligently to fix all the issues. At this time, Quicksat may be the only prediction program that can handle new style A cat numbers.

[10110111]

TLE with Alpha-5 cat numbers is not the only way around. CelesTrak now provides the elements in other formats, one of which—CSV—is supported by Stellarium (and is used by default for the built-in sat data sources instead of TLE). See this link for a description.

[JAY-Githb]

There are many objects with TLEs not supplied by Celestrak. We have to update from those sources also. They only use TLE format so Stellarium would need to accept A5 also.

Did anyone add 6 digit CSV elements?

[10110111]

They only use TLE format so Stellarium would need to accept A5 also.

Yes, this request is tracked in #5054.

[JAY-Githb]

Yes, I made that request as soon as I found new Starlinks and other objects were not being added to Stellarium.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Alex and Georg have done a great job in accepting and implementing many suggested enhancements, making Stellarium the Premier sky mapping program.
My Thanks and gratitude to both of them.