Satellites

This page provides satellite pass predictions, including predictions of satellite visibility from a single location or satellite co-visibility from two separate locations. The latter is useful to plan point-to-point contacts via Amateur Radio communication satellites. It lets you know in advance when your favourite satellites will be overhead.

Pass Predictions

Enter Location 1 Data for satellite pass visibility at one ground station; or
Enter Location 1 and 2 Data for satellite pass co-visibility at two separate ground stations
Select one of the Celestrak satellite categories e.g. Amateur, Cubesats or Weather for multiple satellites; or
Enter the URL of an online TLE file, e.g. https://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/amateur.txt; or
Enter the NORAD Catelogue Number of a single satellite
Select the required prediction report start date, start time and period from 1 - 12 hours (Warning: Longer periods will take more time).
Press the Run Prediction button to display the report data
Report may time out if TLE file has too many satellites (estimate shown in parentheses) or for co-visibility
Copy the link provided to re-run the report anytime with the selected parameters

Definitions

TLE File: A file containing the orbital parameters of one or more satellites, in Two-Line Element format

NORAD Catalogue Number: The official North American Aerospace Defence Command satellite number

Latitude, Longitude, Altitude: The topocentric coordinates of each ground station (WGS84 datum)

Local Radio Horizon: The required minimum elevation for Acqusition Of Signal at each ground station

Minimum Pass Elevation: The desired minimum elevation for a suitable satellite pass

Time Zone: The UTC offset at each ground station as required to display local time; or 0 to display UTC

AOS DATE: Acquisiton Of Signal date, formated as YYYY/MM/DD, in selected time zone
AOS TIME: Acquisition Of Signal time, when the satellite rises above the local horizon, in the selected time zone
AOS AZ: True bearing of the satellite at AOS, in degrees
MAX TIME: Time of the maximum elevation of the visible or co-visible satellite pass
MAX EL: Maximum elevation of the satellite pass, in degrees
DURATION: Total duration of the visible or co-visible satellite pass above the local horizon, in minutes
LOS TIME: Loss Of Signal time, when the satellite will set below the local horizon, in the selected time zone
LOS AZ: True bearing of the satellite at LOS, in degrees

SATELLITE NUMBER & NAME: The NORAD Catalog Number and the name of the satellite provided by the TLE file

Bold Items: User input is essential

Location 1 Data


Latitude:		Decimal degrees (North positive, South negative)
Longitude:		Decimal degrees (East positive, West negative)
Altitude:		Metres above mean sea level
Local Radio Horizon:		Decimal degrees (Up positive, Down negative)
Minimum Pass Elevation:		Decimal degrees (Up positive, Down negative)
Time zone:		Decimal hours offset from UTC

Location 2 Data


Latitude:		Decimal degrees (North positive, South negative)
Longitude:		Decimal degrees (East positive, West negative)
Altitude:		Metres above mean sea level
Local Radio Horizon:		Decimal degrees (Up positive, Down negative)
Minimum Pass Elevation:		Decimal degrees (Up positive, Down negative)
Time zone:		Decimal hours offset from UTC

Prediction Data


Satellite category:		Select multiple satellites by category; or
Online TLE file:		Enter the URL of an online TLE file; or
NORAD Catalog Number:		Select a single satellite by number, e.g. 07530
Prediction report start date:		Select the start date at location 1. Leave blank for Now.
Prediction report start time:		Select the start time at location 1. Leave blank for Now.
Prediction report period:		Select the prediction period in hours

Prediction Report