SATELLITE PREDICTION PROGRAM DEVELOPED

JAY RESPLER (jrespler@superlink.net)
Wed, 19 May 1999 00:37:16 -0400 

According to this article, none of us has been able to find satellites.
Our problem has "just" been solved by NASA.  Aren't we lucky?  Now, for the
first time, I can observe satellites.  I wonder what I've been looking at
up till now?
--------------------------------------

 May 18, 1999
 OBSERVATORY

  By HENRY FOUNTAIN
 Tracking Spacecraft 

 Satellites do their share of peeking at people, but serious skygazers know
 that people can peek back. Many orbiting spacecraft are visible just after
 dusk or before dawn, when they are high enough to reflect sunlight even
 as observers below are in darkness. They appear like slow-moving stars 
traveling across the sky. 

 The problem has always been knowing when and where to look. But the task
 has just been made easier by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
 which has developed software to enable observers to follow their favorite
 satellites, as well as space shuttle flights, Mir and the new International Space
 Station. The program calculates visible satellite passes based on the user's latitude
 and longitude and can display a sky chart showing the satellite's track. 

 Called J-Pass, it is available via a NASA web site. Computer users can also sign up
 for an E-mail program that will alert them to passes of up to 20 satellites. 

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JPass/20/

 Speaking of software, a program called SETI@home lets computer users
participate in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is now available. 

 Developed at the University of California at Berkeley, the free screensaver program
 uses spare processing time on PC's to analyze signals received by radio telescopes
  for signs of an alien origin. It can be downloaded from a Berkeley Web site. 

                           Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company 

-- 
Jay Respler
--
          JRespler@superlink.net 
Sky Views: http://mars.superlink.net/jrespler/skyviews.htm <<=NEW ADDRESS!!
   Satellite Tracker * Early Typewriter Collector
           Freehold,  New Jersey