Getting Started With JSatTrak (Currently 4.1.11)
The JSatTrak site says to get JOGL but I did not do that, maybe because I had JSatTrak 4.1.10 running before I got 4.1.11? I also had to install Apple Java 1.6.1 but that was not difficult. If you have any questions just send me an email.
Installing:
From the JSatTrak page, get the "Any OS Executable JAR" and make sure it unzips, put it in Applications.
You will probably need to re-install Apple Java, this is easy with the installer software. Write and I can give you the current URL.
To start it, double click on JSatTrak_Mac in Applications, I had to go to the System Preferences, Security and Privacy, to allow the application to open.
When the application opens you get a very dark window, first click on the window so we can change it. Go to the JSatTrak Help menu, App Look and Feel... and select "System" to get a usable application look and feel, now it looks more like a Mac application. Next go to the Utilities menu and use the "Update Satellite TLE Data" option to get a current list of satellites to work with. There is an efficient way to add another list of satellites (see "Extending Your Satellite Catalog" under the Gpredict pages) that is very interesting - it is the "observer list" that I use frequently. In JSatTrak if you look in the JSatTrak folder (mine is in Applications) under data and tle - you will see the lists of objects from CelesTrak. These are just text files and can be edited; just copy the TLEs you want and paste them onto one of those lists - and start the application. With JSatTrak when you want to select a satellite to view, you must know what sub-set of TLEs from CelesTrak it is a part of. What I have been doing is taking the lists that I use and putting all of the satellites in the "sts.txt" list since that is an option that is easy to get to. That way all of the ones you use are in the same list. You can also edit the names of the satellites in those lists.
Here is a ground trace with two of my favorite sun synchronous satellites - Aqua (a part of the A-Train constellation) and WorldView-2. JSatTrak does let you get rid of the "visibility circle" around the satellite. JSatTrak also allows you to make each ground trace a different color - and it is easy to find and edit the name of the satellite in TLE.
If you go to the Object List window and double click on the ISS(ZARYA) label (which is probably invisible right now) it will pop open a window that will allow you to suppress the "coverage" oval around the satellite point. Click on "Show Viewable Footprint" to eliminate that.
You will notice that various labels disappear when you click on some things, for instance there is the Object List window. It lists the satellites that you are looking at, it starts with just ISS. If you click on the ISS label it disappears. If you click on the Satellites label, it disappears but ISS comes back. If you right click on the ISS point, on the ground trace, two black rectangles appear. There are a number of things like this that happen. Similar things happen in the MacOS, in rare cases.
The next page in this site: Let's Look At Some Examples
