Gstatsat

A Ruby Gem for calculating bearings of geostationary satellites

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'gstatsat'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install gstatsat

Example

>> require 'gstatsat'
=> True

>> base_station = Gstatsat::BaseStation.new(latitude: 45.425533, longitude: -75.692482)
>> satellite = Gstatsat::Satellite.new(longitude: -98)
>> bearing = Gstatsat::SatelliteBearing.new(satellite: satellite, base_station: base_station)

>> bearing.azimuth
=> 209.9

>> bearing.elevation
=> 33.2

>> bearing.visible?
=> True

Notes

The visible? method on SatelliteBearing is based on an elevation greater than 0. This simplified model assumes the earth is a perfect sphere and that the base station is at sea level. A satellites actual visibility may be affected by natural features such as mountains. It may also be possible to sight a satellite at a bearing less than 0 if the base station is at orbital altitudes.