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Comment by igor47 | Hacker News Reader

I love stellarium on my phone. It even identifies satellites! I've seen the ISS with my own eyes! (It looks like a glowing dot)

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It's one of the few things left in too-bright places that can introduce someone to the wonders of space in a way images and video can't. Some neighbors finally stopped and asked why I stood at the road looking at the mostly starless sky most nights.

"Waiting for the space station." (and other satellites, but those are harder to see)

"I didn't know it was still a thing."

It started as a little dot on the horizon, barely visible in the hazy light from the city, then built to a blinding light above. I heard a "holy fuck" so I guess they were suitably wowed.

I once saw it go over by chance with a Japanese module closely following. It was very cool.

It's such a shame Iridium flares are no longer a thing. The ISS is in the sky a bit too long really. I've showed people and they thought it was a plane (despite telling them a planes lights would flash). A good Iridium flare was unmistakable though and quite the arresting sight.

The last one I be tried to look for would have been perfect. It was supposed to happen on a friend's wedding night. It happened but was thoroughly unimpressive. I found out soon after the satellites were in the process of being decommissioned and flares were no longer happening as predicted. By now they're all gone and we just get boring objects like the Starlink satellites.

I make my kids wave at it. There's a manned spaceship flying over our heads at 17,000 mile per hour. We see it, we wave.

You can go a step further: get them into ham radio and talk to the astronauts as they fly over. Then when/if that gets boring, move on to SSTV and SDR.

I already have my extra license. I don't need a lot of convincing to take out a second mortgage for radio gear.

Something my partner and I noticed during the full lockdown of the pandemic was that the lack of aviation made it much easier to notice spacecraft.

In a big city with an airport a moving light in the sky is almost always a jet at high altitude.

But with nearly zero flights, it was more likely to be a satellite or the space station.

I always liked trying to find the ISS myself while camping but there’s so damn many satellites up there now, it’s hard to tell which is which!

The ISS will be the really bright one. I think the last Iridium satellite that flares was decommissioned a while back, but you might see those too.

Just installed it and nonstop upgrade ads, not what I expect from a GPL app. Maybe one or two but nagging, no.

Why not? GPL is free as in speech, not as in beer.

All it implies is: you can get the source code, so if you don’t like the official App Store version you’re more than welcome to build your own.

Not allowed to install, no. Can’t recommend it.

As I said, don’t mind here and there… it’s helpful. But nag me and get replaced.

Its worth mentioning that nobody is doing anybody a favor by using their free software. It seems pretty plain that the free version is a trial you are expected to uninstall or upgrade.

But can I use it to build a better, paid-for, app without having to give up my source code because of the GPL thing?

The Android and iOS versions of stellarium are not open source so you can't compile you're own versions.

The Android and iOS versions of stellarium are not open source or GPL. Only the desktop versions are.

When the ISS transits the full moon, is way more than a for. The solar arrays are easily discerned.

I use Sky Guide on my phone and it's still one of these apps that make "modern" technology feel amazing, similarly to just being able to point Flight Radar at the sky and see where a plane is going.

Does this require the paid FR acct?

No, I have a paid account to remove ads but the base functionality doesn't require it.

I've probably sold a few copies of this from people asking why I was pointing my phone at the sky.

I do too, its alot of fun identifying random satellites, plus the paid version is an easy way to financially support the desktop. And the developers are actually responsive, which is refreshing.

all satellites viewed with the naked eye look like a "glowing dot". in long exposure images, they look like long single pixel streaks which makes them easily different than a meteor which flares wider in the middle before narrowing again as well as also changing colors.

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