About & data sources
orbit.ing-now.com is a satellite orbit information site — tracking the active spacecraft in Earth orbit, and the ones that are coming back down. This page explains where the data comes from and how to read it.
What this site is
orbit.ing-now.com started from a simple curiosity: how do satellites stay in orbit, and how do you know where they are? The answer turned out to be wonderfully public. Every tracked object in space has an orbit that is published as a Two-Line Element set (TLE), and anyone can read it, plot it, and predict where each spacecraft will be.
That is what this site does. It ingests the public satellite catalogue, computes orbits from the published element sets, and presents them as live-looking maps, globes, passes and forecasts — from the ISS to the newest Starlink batch.
// important
All positions, altitudes, velocities and passes on this site are predictions computed from the latest published TLE data — not live satellite telemetry. For a satellite in a stable orbit the prediction is very accurate. For objects in decay, or shortly after a manoeuvre, it can be noticeably wrong. Only the satellite operator or government tracking agencies have real-time data.
We use the word "live" on this site in the sense of computed at view time from the newest available elements — the pages update in real time as the clock ticks, and the data refreshes when new TLEs are published. It is live processing of forecast data, not live telemetry.
Where the data comes from
// the pipelineCelesTrak public catalogue
Orbital element sets are published by CelesTrak, updated roughly every two hours from the US Space Force catalogue. This site downloads the active, Starlink and recent-launch feeds on a schedule.
Local database & cache
Each download is stored with its epoch. The site keeps a TLE history per satellite, which is what powers the altitude and velocity trend charts.
Orbit computation
Positions are computed with the standard SGP4 propagator — the same mathematical model used across the satellite-tracking world — fed with the observer's location for pass predictions.
Rendering
Ground tracks, 3D globes, visible-pass forecasts and statistics are drawn from those computed positions at view time.
How accurate is it?
// honest limits| Data | Typical accuracy |
|---|---|
| Position (stable orbit) | Very good — within a few km of the published epoch, degrading slowly with age |
| Position (decaying object) | Worse — predictions from elements hours or days old may not match the actual spacecraft |
| Visible passes | Times within a minute or two for healthy satellites; bright magnitude is a rough guide |
| Altitude / velocity trends | Reliable direction & rough magnitude from the TLE history |
| Reentry time & location | Difficult — approximate windows only. Confirm with official sources before relying on it |
Disclaimer
Although the data on this site is produced and processed from third-party sources believed to be reliable, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information. This applies to both isolated and aggregate uses. orbit.ing-now.com provides this information on an "AS IS" basis; all warranties of any kind, express or implied — including implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose — are disclaimed.
All content on orbit.ing-now.com enjoys perpetual copyright via its respective authors unless indicated otherwise. No portion of this website may be used for any purpose without explicit written permission. All information and data presented here reflects the personal opinions of the site's authors.