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Show HN: Orbit – AR satellite tracker, watch 15k+ objects (nagylukas.github.io)

89 points by lukas9 ↗ HN
Hey HN! I made Orbit, an iOS app that allows you to see the satellites, planets, and constellations above you in AR, on a 2D map, and on a 3D globe. The app includes more than 15,000 objects tracked by CelesTrack, together with their pass predictions, descriptions, and detailed orbital data. A searchable catalog of all objects is also available, as well as a built-in chatbot designed to answer any space-related questions you might have.

This is my first published iOS app, so any feedback is greatly appreciated! App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6772174570

11 comments of 19

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adrienfr31
How do you calculate the next passes over a given position?
oivaksef
where do you get satellite orbits from?
bagels
Awesome. This is a side project I never got around to making myself. For all the questions of "How do you know where the satellites are", there are published TLEs (old punchcard format) that describe orbital parameters, and you can use those to estimate the position within ~10km (good enough for this).

https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/

Aachen
How does it differ from the existing apps that do this?
mattlondon
Appears to be iPhone only? Title needs updating
nefarious_ends
The App Store says this app is 4+ years old. Sad that I can’t try the 3D view without paying but I think it’s interesting the Pro plan includes “20x the AI chat”. Oh my iPhone is VERY hot now, I better uninstall this app… good luck!
lumrn
Very nice project! I have played around with it for a while and noticed that the top right satellite/debris selector doesn't seem to be working correctly as the "Satellites Only" and the "Debris Only" options don't seem to change anything on the ground track view.

I'm wondering if you have any information on Celestrak data licenses and usage terms? Their data comes from Space-Track (plus some directly from operators) which isn't very permissive with its usage and I never found anything more specific on Celestrak's website.

Reminds me of a space version of Flighty, best of luck with it!

LastTrain
Cool. It would be a neat feature if it had a mirror mode, showed you what your screen is pointing at instead of the front of your phone.