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Last week I stood outside my apartment and watched Tiangong fly across the sky[0]. What an incredible time to be alive. [0] https://james.darpinian.com/satelli

Last week I stood outside my apartment and watched Tiangong fly across the sky[0]. What an incredible time to be alive. [0] https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/ https://james.darpinian.com/satellites/

huhtenberg 4y ago
The page sits at "Loading" and the console shows "Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: navigator.geolocation is undefined".
- Yiin 4y ago
  Your browser needs to support sharing geolocation.
  - jason-phillips 4y ago
    No, it does not. An uncaught error where you don't catch and gracefully handle errors in your promises is not the users' fault. It's sloppy workmanship.
    - jdbernard 4y ago
      I'm sure they'd be happy to give you a refund. :)
      - jason-phillips 4y ago
        The point is not that one makes available one's site for free. The point is that the quality of the work is sloppy, price of said service notwithstanding. There are many other ways to approximate a client's geolocation so as to prevent displaying an embarrassing error where one did not first check whether the object's property was truthy or not. Justifying terrible UX by saying, "it's free," is a terrible strategy, tbh. Free shit is still shit.
        thedragonline 4y ago
        Uh, then don't use it? Problem solved methinks.
        mbostleman 4y ago
        But, all moral posturing notwithstanding, is it not also true that if the OP just gets a browser or a browser version or a browser configuration that supports geolocation that they will be back in business?
        shadowgovt 4y ago
        It's not just that the key isn't populated; it's that it's undefined. FWIW, my browser (Chrome) works on the site even if I choose not to share geolocation; I assume because the API is populated even if it then refrains from sharing. Your point isn't quite wrong but it also isn't quite right; geolocation is supported by every browser listed on Mozilla's documentation (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Navigator/geolocation https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Navigator/g...) so if a browser isn't at least stubbing out that API these days, it's not w3c-compliant, and non-w3c-compliant browsers will sometimes just break on some pages. It is, of course, still incumbent on the developer to go that extra mile if they want to catch that last 1% of users, but users of exotic browsers get an exotic experience also.
        jason-phillips 4y ago
        None of the browsers on my iPhone will render this site, W3C compliant or not. In any event, I would never tell my users that it's their fault that my app didn't check the truthiness of the object's property. Seems particularly hostile to one's users and customers, free product or not.
        shadowgovt 4y ago
        Ever written a website that checks whether `window` is defined? Technically, we should be checking everything. Practically, nobody does.
        deleted 4y ago
      - ipaddr 4y ago
        On my time which is worth $/per hour? That will be the day.
    - modeless 4y ago
      If you get this error, you intentionally broke your browser, or are using a browser which doesn't support standard, essential functionality. This is not the same thing as declining or blocking geolocation permission, which is supported and does not cause errors. This specific error means you deleted the standard functions that implement the geolocation API, which is a completely different thing. That's fine too, you're welcome to browse the web with a broken configuration, but you have to realize that it will break things. You're not automatically entitled to request that every site support your broken configuration. It should also be noted that browsing with a non-default configuration like this makes you an easy target for fingerprinting. Note that the site absolutely requires some form of geolocation to work at all. Satellite viewing times are location specific and without a precise location the site can't show you anything useful.
      - jason-phillips 4y ago
        > This specific error means you deleted the standard functions that implement the geolocation API That's a rather flimsy straw man. I did no such thing. > You're not automatically entitled to request that every site support your broken configuration. Goodness, now I'm entitled. I did no such thing; I just said that blaming your users for your sloppy coding is a terrible strategy.
        modeless 4y ago
        You say you're using iOS Safari. I'm interested to know how you were able to configure it to delete navigator.geolocation, apparently without realizing what you were doing. I don't plan to support a broken configuration like that, but if you can figure out the cause then I could file a WebKit bug on your behalf.
        kortilla 4y ago
        Why would it be on OP’s behalf? If it’s just a configuration that WebKit supports it’s either violating the standard or you’re not handling it correctly on your site. It has nothing to do with the OP at that point.
    - david422 4y ago
      Maybe you should email the site and let them know instead of complaining on some random forum?
  - huhtenberg 4y ago
    It's there, but disabled. They had to check for that.
agambrahma 4y ago
This is a fantastic website, thank you to whoever made it !!
- gorkish 4y ago
  I concur! The street view is brilliant.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
peter303 4y ago
Tiangoon flybys can reaches magnitude -2 now. Bright than most planets. Next bright evening flybys overUS in early December. The ISS, which has five times more modules, reaches magnitude -4 sometimes. Third brightest thing in sky.
- yencabulator 4y ago
  I have watched the ISS go overhead in the middle of a very sunny cloudless Los Angeles day. It can be very visible, when you know the timing & direction.
- modeless 4y ago
  For clarity, #1 is the Sun and #2 is the Moon. ISS is brighter than literally everything else in space, including all the other stars and planets.
  - JonathonW 4y ago
    ISS isn't always brighter than Venus, which can get almost to magnitude -5 when things line up right. The ISS will still generally be the first, second, or third brightest thing in the night sky on a good, near-overhead pass.
- waterhouse 4y ago
  ... looks like "magnitude" numbers farther below zero are brighter? Who came up with that? > The scale used to indicate magnitude originates in the Hellenistic practice of dividing stars visible to the naked eye into six magnitudes. The brightest stars in the night sky were said to be of first magnitude (m = 1), whereas the faintest were of sixth magnitude (m = 6) [...] > In 1856, Norman Robert Pogson formalized the system by defining a first magnitude star as a star that is 100 times as bright as a sixth-magnitude star, thereby establishing the logarithmic scale still in use today. This implies that a star of magnitude m is about 2.512 times as bright as a star of magnitude m + 1. This figure, the fifth root of 100, became known as Pogson's Ratio. Hmmph. I'd prefer a system where higher numbers were brighter, and probably with a different logarithmic base. Oh well.
Gordonjcp 4y ago
It's a shame it's so far south! The ISS is in a far more inclined orbit. Tiangong isn't really much above the horizon for anywhere north of about 42°N.
whydat_whodat 4y ago
Very nice! If you don't mind, are you open to discussing your tech stack on that? I am curious as to: - What provides the 3D earth model - What calculates the satellite trajectory and plots its arc - What client side & server side frameworks you used for the web app itself
- jorgesborges 4y ago
  Not my project but here’s a blog post from the author. https://james.darpinian.com/blog/how-see-a-satellite-tonight-works https://james.darpinian.com/blog/how-see-a-satellite-tonight...

huhtenberg 4y ago

The page sits at "Loading" and the console shows "Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: navigator.geolocation is undefined".

Yiin 4y ago
Your browser needs to support sharing geolocation.
- jason-phillips 4y ago
  No, it does not. An uncaught error where you don't catch and gracefully handle errors in your promises is not the users' fault. It's sloppy workmanship.
  - jdbernard 4y ago
    I'm sure they'd be happy to give you a refund. :)
    - jason-phillips 4y ago
      The point is not that one makes available one's site for free. The point is that the quality of the work is sloppy, price of said service notwithstanding. There are many other ways to approximate a client's geolocation so as to prevent displaying an embarrassing error where one did not first check whether the object's property was truthy or not. Justifying terrible UX by saying, "it's free," is a terrible strategy, tbh. Free shit is still shit.
      - thedragonline 4y ago
        Uh, then don't use it? Problem solved methinks.
      - mbostleman 4y ago
        But, all moral posturing notwithstanding, is it not also true that if the OP just gets a browser or a browser version or a browser configuration that supports geolocation that they will be back in business?
      - shadowgovt 4y ago
        It's not just that the key isn't populated; it's that it's undefined. FWIW, my browser (Chrome) works on the site even if I choose not to share geolocation; I assume because the API is populated even if it then refrains from sharing. Your point isn't quite wrong but it also isn't quite right; geolocation is supported by every browser listed on Mozilla's documentation (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Navigator/geolocation https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Navigator/g...) so if a browser isn't at least stubbing out that API these days, it's not w3c-compliant, and non-w3c-compliant browsers will sometimes just break on some pages. It is, of course, still incumbent on the developer to go that extra mile if they want to catch that last 1% of users, but users of exotic browsers get an exotic experience also.
        jason-phillips 4y ago
        None of the browsers on my iPhone will render this site, W3C compliant or not. In any event, I would never tell my users that it's their fault that my app didn't check the truthiness of the object's property. Seems particularly hostile to one's users and customers, free product or not.
        shadowgovt 4y ago
        Ever written a website that checks whether `window` is defined? Technically, we should be checking everything. Practically, nobody does.
        deleted 4y ago
    - ipaddr 4y ago
      On my time which is worth $/per hour? That will be the day.
  - modeless 4y ago
    If you get this error, you intentionally broke your browser, or are using a browser which doesn't support standard, essential functionality. This is not the same thing as declining or blocking geolocation permission, which is supported and does not cause errors. This specific error means you deleted the standard functions that implement the geolocation API, which is a completely different thing. That's fine too, you're welcome to browse the web with a broken configuration, but you have to realize that it will break things. You're not automatically entitled to request that every site support your broken configuration. It should also be noted that browsing with a non-default configuration like this makes you an easy target for fingerprinting. Note that the site absolutely requires some form of geolocation to work at all. Satellite viewing times are location specific and without a precise location the site can't show you anything useful.
    - jason-phillips 4y ago
      > This specific error means you deleted the standard functions that implement the geolocation API That's a rather flimsy straw man. I did no such thing. > You're not automatically entitled to request that every site support your broken configuration. Goodness, now I'm entitled. I did no such thing; I just said that blaming your users for your sloppy coding is a terrible strategy.
      - modeless 4y ago
        You say you're using iOS Safari. I'm interested to know how you were able to configure it to delete navigator.geolocation, apparently without realizing what you were doing. I don't plan to support a broken configuration like that, but if you can figure out the cause then I could file a WebKit bug on your behalf.
        kortilla 4y ago
        Why would it be on OP’s behalf? If it’s just a configuration that WebKit supports it’s either violating the standard or you’re not handling it correctly on your site. It has nothing to do with the OP at that point.
  - david422 4y ago
    Maybe you should email the site and let them know instead of complaining on some random forum?
- huhtenberg 4y ago
  It's there, but disabled. They had to check for that.

agambrahma 4y ago

This is a fantastic website, thank you to whoever made it !!

gorkish 4y ago
I concur! The street view is brilliant.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

peter303 4y ago

Tiangoon flybys can reaches magnitude -2 now. Bright than most planets. Next bright evening flybys overUS in early December. The ISS, which has five times more modules, reaches magnitude -4 sometimes. Third brightest thing in sky.

yencabulator 4y ago
I have watched the ISS go overhead in the middle of a very sunny cloudless Los Angeles day. It can be very visible, when you know the timing & direction.
modeless 4y ago
For clarity, #1 is the Sun and #2 is the Moon. ISS is brighter than literally everything else in space, including all the other stars and planets.
- JonathonW 4y ago
  ISS isn't always brighter than Venus, which can get almost to magnitude -5 when things line up right. The ISS will still generally be the first, second, or third brightest thing in the night sky on a good, near-overhead pass.
waterhouse 4y ago
... looks like "magnitude" numbers farther below zero are brighter? Who came up with that? > The scale used to indicate magnitude originates in the Hellenistic practice of dividing stars visible to the naked eye into six magnitudes. The brightest stars in the night sky were said to be of first magnitude (m = 1), whereas the faintest were of sixth magnitude (m = 6) [...] > In 1856, Norman Robert Pogson formalized the system by defining a first magnitude star as a star that is 100 times as bright as a sixth-magnitude star, thereby establishing the logarithmic scale still in use today. This implies that a star of magnitude m is about 2.512 times as bright as a star of magnitude m + 1. This figure, the fifth root of 100, became known as Pogson's Ratio. Hmmph. I'd prefer a system where higher numbers were brighter, and probably with a different logarithmic base. Oh well.

Gordonjcp 4y ago

It's a shame it's so far south! The ISS is in a far more inclined orbit. Tiangong isn't really much above the horizon for anywhere north of about 42°N.

whydat_whodat 4y ago

Very nice! If you don't mind, are you open to discussing your tech stack on that? I am curious as to: - What provides the 3D earth model - What calculates the satellite trajectory and plots its arc - What client side & server side frameworks you used for the web app itself

jorgesborges 4y ago
Not my project but here’s a blog post from the author. https://james.darpinian.com/blog/how-see-a-satellite-tonight-works https://james.darpinian.com/blog/how-see-a-satellite-tonight...