martymacgyver / satellite-data-visualizer

A Python tool for visualizing satellite positions using TLE (Two Line Element) data

Satellite Data Visualizer for Python

A Python 3.6+ tool for visualizing satellite positions from using TLE (two-line element set) formatted data using matplotlib and your choice of graphical backends (Tcl/Tk by default).

More about TLE data at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-line_element_set

Note: This is developed and tested using Python 3.6 on Windows and cross-tested using Python 3.6 on OS X, but as long as the same libraries are available in your OS this should work there as well.

Installation

Install Python 3.6 or later

Optional: use venv to create a workspace (it's a nice, clean way to manage application-specific dependencies)

Install requirements: pip install -U -r requirements.txt

Select a backend: This application initially uses the Tcl/Tk ('TkAgg') backend that's available on most systems by default, but I've successfully used the Qt5 ('Qt5Agg') and wxPython ('WxAgg') backends instead. You can change this in config.ini. Additional requirements as follows:

• Qt5Agg: pip install -U pyqt5
• WxAgg: pip install -U wxpython

OS X note: If you see "urllib.error.URLError: <urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed", this is a known issue. To fix it:

• Open the Finder
• Go to Applications -> Python 3.7 (or later)
• Run Install Certificates.command

Usage

For geocoding data (converting an address to coordinates and elevation), you'll need a Google Geocoding API key. There appears to be a generous monthly credit that negates the marginal cost of this. Enter the key when prompted, or set it in your environment (e.g., export GOOGLE_API_KEY=[secret_key] in Linux/OSX or set GOOGLE_API_KEY=[secret_key] in Windows) before running the app.

Reminder: you can always just enter your coordinates (and optional elevation) directly to avoid this.

Run: satellite-data-visualizer.py

Enter a location (in quotes on the command line, or at the prompt):

• H:M:S coordinates (specify N/S and E/W, or use -/+ degrees relative to N,E)
• Decimal coordinates (-/+ degrees relative to N,E)
  • Elevation is optional with coordinate entries (default is 0.0m)
• or a place name, e.g., "Seattle"
  • Elevation is automatically looked up for place name entries

Interesting locations (elevations for coordinate pairs are up to the user):

• 90:00:00.0N, 0:00:00.0W = Geographic North Pole
• 90:00:00.0S, 0:00:00.0E = Geographic South Pole
• 86:17:24.0N, 160:03:36.0W = North Magnetic Pole (2015)
• 64:31:48.0S, 137:51:36.0E = South Magnetic Pole (2015)
• 80:30:00.0N, 72:48:00.0W = North Geomagnetic Pole (2017)
• 80:30:00.0S, 107:12:00.0E = South Geomagnetic Pole (2017)
• 00:00:00.0N, xxx:xx:xx.xE = Longitudes along the equator
• "Pontianak, Indonesia" and "Quito, Ecuador" are places right on the equator

Credits

This project is a fork of the code provided on Reddit by /u/chknoodle_aggie in the thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/3gwzjr/using_pyephem_i_just_plotted_every_tleinfo/

This project also includes elements of the Python 3 port of this code by pklaus as published at https://gist.github.com/pklaus/469e603b105905170992

Some TLE data is sourced from http://www.tle.info/ - this site appears to be IPv6-only now so if you have problems downloading from there be sure you are using an IPv6-capable connection.

TODO

• Add an input box!
• Make the list font smaller
• Exclude objects that have decayed by this time (https://celestrak.com/satcat/decayed.php)
• Show TLE epoch in list view (https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/13825/how-to-obtain-utc-of-the-epoch-time-in-a-satellite-tle-two-line-element)
• Add links in list view to https://www.n2yo.com or similar

satellite-data-visualizer's Issues

When matplotlib 2.1 drops, consider adding a TextBox widget for select-by-name

Coming in matplotlib 2.1:
https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/api/widgets_api.html#matplotlib.widgets.TextBox

Consider adding this widget for select-by-name.