I typically use www.heavens-above.com in conjunction with StarryNight to plan an ISS viewing session. Most of the time they both agree very closely, but tonight (6-13-2011) StarryNight's track of the ISS was way off both from observation and heavens-above, and tomorrow night's (6-14-2011) track differs wildly from what heavens-above predicts. I believe I have StarryNight set to check for updates, it tells me when I launch it whether new data files were downloaded or not. Am I missing something?
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10 comments
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Michael Kobrick I do exactly the same thing. But when I ask for the update it tells me No files were downloaded. Your data file are all up to date. blah blah", tho I'm sure they haven't been updated in a while. Since the ISS orbit changes more quickly errors there are more noticeable, so I suspect the updates aren't working. Any other way to check this?
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Michael Kobrick Well, I pasted in the TLE for ISS from the Norad data base and got the same result - the prediction differs from all the web site's by about 17 minutes. Any other ideas?
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Greg Loskorn OK, well it seems I'm not the only one having the problem. But what's curious is that it has worked well for so long (a couple years), now all of the sudden it's way off. I wonder what changed?
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Michael Kobrick And if you look at heavens-above's orbit track (by clicking on the max altitude time) it matches the Starry Night orbit track (by clicking the check box by ISS under Satellites) for the same time. It's just that ISS isn't there. I've seen Starry Night differ from other sources by about a minute before - as well as the actual sightings - but never by this much.
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Greg Loskorn Well, now it suddenly is correct, it shows exactly what heavens-above predicts for tonight (6-14-2011) at exactly the right time. Go figure. I hope this was just a temporary anomaly.
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Joseph Kristl The previous orbital parameters were incorrect because there was a major altitude correction applied to the ISS during this interval. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110610132141.htm
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Jason Jack It's completely wrong tonight. I just watched the ISS pass overhead but SNP+ reports it in a completely different location. I tried updating data files but no effect. I realise I'm picking up on a thread 3 years old .. so I'm a little puzzled as I would have imagined errors like this would have been ironed out a while ago. London, UK. 12 August 2014. Pass at 22:20 (last night I saw it earlier and spotted ATV-5 following it about 2 minutes behind!)
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Hmarsh06 No ISS at all. It shows it below the horizon, while I'me viewing the ISS LIVE ! Moon is also out of position.
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Keiron Smith Please include the following information when posting here about ISS discrepancies.
1. Your Starry Night Program; i.e. Starry Night Pro
2. Your version number; i.e. version 7.0.8.262. You can find this information in Help ---> About Starry Night.
Please be sure you have checked for the latest data updates and also be sure you are running the latest version on the program.
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Hmarsh06 Dear Keiron, I have just bought the new version of Starry Night Enthusiast vers. 7.07.231. I downloaded it got a cd. copy as well. Thanks for your reply. The moon last night was again at the wrong elevation above the horizon. Regards Harry Marsh.
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