Ed's ISS TLE Test Page
March 19, 2021 ISS TLE Test
The purpose of this test is to compare International Space Station Two Line Element sources for predicting ISS Transits of the Sun, Moon and Planets. NASA no longer provides ISS Two Line Elements and instead now provides ephemeris data in the form of OEM messages. CelesTrak.com generates TLEs from the NASA OEM data, available here:Supplemental TLE; as well as, providing Current TLE data from space-track.org. These two sources are tested here. Keep in mind this test is a single data point. As time permits, I'll perform additional tests and add them to this page.
A nice high altitude pass for this test.
The specific TLEs that were available at the time of this test were:
Below are wide and narrow screen shots of the predicted paths and actual path.
Below is a composite image taken from the video. Click
play below to see the video of the test. Assessment: The actual path was slightly closer to the Supplemental TLE prediction, however the actual arrival time was closer to the Current TLE prediction. Equipment
used: Meade 10" F/10
LX200GPS telescope, No Focal
Reducer, Watec 902H CCD Video Camera and KIWI OSD Video
Time-inserter connected to a Garmin-18 LVC GPS. Field of View: 7.75' x 5.85'
