The Skywatchers Guide to Following Spacecraft in Orbit using J-Track By Glen Golightly Houston Bureau Chief posted: 07:00 am ET 19 May 2000 ET
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HOUSTON - Forget David, Jay and Conan -- you've got a better reason to stay up late.
The friendly engineers and programmers at NASA have crunched the numbers that tell when you can see Atlantis in orbit, along with other craft such as the International Space Station (ISS), Mir and the Hubble Space Telescope.
For immediate gratification, or if you're averse to running yet another internet app on your computer, go to the NASA Headquarters sightings page for the ISS and Mir.
SkyWatch 1.2, developed by the Johnson Space Center (JSC), gives sighting times and generates a nifty star map. J-Track, developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, lists more than 500 satellites and spacecraft and produces a map on your computer screen much like the one in JSC's Mission Control center.
Be patient though -- these programs are processor-intensive and require some time to download if you are using a modem to connect to the internet. You'll need a Java-capable browser and a bit of time if you're not running one of the newer processors. Both programs offer a lot of features, so it may be worthwhile to read the instructions.
For those, who want to do their own calculations or have their own tracking program, JSC offers up
J-Track is great fun to play with. It's a wonderful way to while away the time. One cool feature is that you can tell J-Track to send e-mail with sighting information of up to 10 satellites and the shuttle.
The best place to start is the J-Track
FAQ that explains the various functions and contains troubleshooting tips.
For a home-based Mission Control look, Internet Explorer 4.0 and higher users can add J-Track to their active desktop.
Follow Atlantis, as well as Mir and the Hubble Space Telescope with J-Track
More than 3,400 cities are listed on the ISS and Mir viewing charts offered here. Webmaster Jesco von Puttkamer even offers an interesting explanation of how the tracking is performed. From here, you can also download documents related to construction of the ISS and the U.S. involvement aboard Mir.
This handy page is the jumping off point for SkyWatch and other sighting information. Additionally, it has links for Kennedy Space Center and weather data for shuttle landing sites.
Click on the sighting opportunities link to go to text-based sighting information and SkyWatch, which computes times and azimuths for you. If you want to know how SkyWatch was developed, a flight dynamics officer explains the program on a streaming video clip.
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