How accurate is stellarium

[neil phillips]

Was wondering how accurate stellarium is when it shows the track of a satellite. Just saw what I think was Astex 1 but its track was way off, it showed it travelling through Cassiopeia, but infact it was way higher above Cassiopeia its magnitude was also way off, initially I would guess at around mag 0. what appeared to be completely stationary for at least 8 secs or so at mag 0 then started moving, at what appeared to be a faster rate, all the while losing mag quite quick. Stellarium showed the mag of Astex 1 to be going in the opposite direction getting brighter as the track progressed, with the mag not deviating too much, by less than 1 mag.   and apparently getting easier to see as it went along. But infact none of that happened the magnitude deviation was quite large, and faded quite quickly after it appeared to start moving. The completely stationary appearance must have been a illusion. But thought Stellarium was quite accurate. Is it a known fact that Stellarium can be way off on track and magnitude ? it was not clouds that affected the magnitude to this level. Not sure how much to trust Stellariums predictions now

[Astrobits]

When did you update the orbital elements for satellites? They change quite frequently and need to be updated every few days to be accurate.

Nigel

[neil phillips]

10 minutes ago, Astrobits said:

When did you update the orbital elements for satellites? They change quite frequently and need to be updated every few days to be accurate.

Nigel

Hi Nigel maybe that's the answer I haven't updated the orbital elements, I assumed Stellarium would do that automatically. How do you update this info. because I can do that now and see what the object was

[Cornelius Varley]

9 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Hi Nigel maybe that's the answer I haven't updated the orbital elements, I assumed Stellarium would do that automatically. How do you update this info. because I can do that now and see what the object was

Press F2 > plug ins > satellites (select load on startup) > configure 

[Astrobits]

Configurations/plug-ins/satellites.

I see that mine is set to automatically update every 72 hours ( although I didn't choose that, it must have been pre-set ). If yours is also pre-set then I suggest that an immediate update might be worthwhile. Apart from that I cannot think what the problem is provided your viewing location is accurately set.

Nigel

[Dave In Vermont]

Yes to above - F2, or click on Configuration-tab on the left-side of the screen. Click on Plugins. Scroll down to Satellites and double-click on this. Now click Update now.

There you go -

Dave

[neil phillips]

Hi guys just checked the update settings and indeed it is set to update every 72 hours. I did a manual update to see if it would change the predictions, looked back at the time last night, and nothing has changed. So I don't know ?