selden wrote:Fridger,
One problem(?) is that Celestia does not need to have
this capability built into it.
It should be "trivial" for an interested person to implement an external package (Web page?) that would invoke software to download the TLEs, convert them to Celestia's SSC format, write an appropriate SSC file, and then optionally restart Celestia with an appropriate viewpoint.
Selden,
no, there is no "need", but in practice the procedure you
mention is rather time consuming, if there is no
dedicated tool. The best form for such a tool is
something to be
discussed among people who
know how to write code in Celestia or to produce
respective add-ons...
For a
quantitative observation of satellites from
your backyard (at the correct time!) you have to update
the TLE's every 1-2 days! I have been involved in
extensive testing of this stuff in the context of XEphem.
So I know from experience.
The point is that in XEphem a few clicks allow you to
update, store and convert
all requested satelite
parameters virtually in less than a minute! No fiddling
around with EXEL sheets etc.
At the same time you can download, update and convert
the huge asteroid data files as well....
I find that tremendously handy...
Bye Fridger