CREW DRAGON 11 found during search of unrelated event

[David Cvet]

I was working with Stellarium 25.3 planning out a potential dark sky event targeting the weekend of July 11-12, 2026.  Interestingly, I had stumbled onto a "celestial event" in the form of CREW DRAGON 11 (type: artificial satellite) on the evening of July 12, 2026 @ 21.38 Atlantic Time, appearing above the horizon in the W and setting in the NE @ 21:45.
This spacecraft had launched in August of this year, and therefore, the question is, why is this "artificial satellite" still in the Stellarium books?
Perhaps I need to download and refresh my catalogues?

[Georg Zotti]

Sure you need to update satellite elements. This should happen automatically, but if not, you can trigger it in the plugin configuration screen. You cannot predict any low-orbit devices months in advance. Rather count in days, like weather predictions.

[David Cvet]

Thank you for your quick response.  Your suggestion prompted me to check the satellites configuration panel and under settings, it is automatically updated every 72h.  I clicked on the "Update now" button, then I shut down the app, and restarted.  I returned to July 12, 2026 at 21:38 AST and sure enough, the dragon is still there.

I am using the app on Linux (Ubuntu).  Might there be some issues on the Linux platform not seen on MacOS or Windows?

[Georg Zotti]

I cannot answer this without extensive code study. You may file a bug report on our Github site (including program version number etc.) so we don't forget. And you may want to remove the spacecraft manually in the GUI.

[David Cvet]

I deleted it from the satellites list.  Thank you for your assistance.

[Paul Gilmartin]

On 12/16/25 11:23, David Cvet wrote:
> I deleted it from the satellites list.  Thank you for your assistance.

...
But will it reappear in 72 hours?
Celestrak says:
<https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/gp.php?INTDES=2025-166&FORMAT=tle>
CREW DRAGON 11
1 65077U 25166A 25350.08808596 .00006404 00000+0 12171-3 0 9992
2 65077 51.6306 125.8981 0003173 255.6781 104.3856 15.49613604 2143

The future of a powered satellite is not predictable from TLE.

--
gil

[David Cvet]

I did a refresh in order to expedite the scheduled update, and to my surprise, the object still crossed the sky on July 12, 2026 @ 21:40 AST.  However, clicking on that object now reveals that it is recorded as CYGNUS NG-23 (artificial satellite).  

So, the object remains in Stellarium, but now correctly labelled (I assume its correct) as CYGNUS.  Go figure...

[Paul Gilmartin]

On 12/17/25 05:29, David Cvet wrote:
> I did a refresh in order to expedite the scheduled update, and to my surprise, the object still crossed the sky on July 12, 2026 @ 21:40 AST.  However, clicking on that object now reveals that it is recorded as CYGNUS NG-23 (artificial satellite).
> So, the object remains in Stellarium, but now correctly labelled (I assume its correct) as CYGNUS.  Go figure...

...
to investigate, I did on:
Stellarium 25.3
Version 25.3.0 (64-bit)
Based on Qt 6.9.2
Running on Operating System macOS Sequoia (15.7.3)

cd user-dir # My symbolic link
rm -r modules/Satellites # After backup

refresh

501 $ cd user-dir/modules/Satellites

507 $ grep CYGNUS *
satellites.json: "name": "CYGNUS NG-23",
tle10.txt:CYGNUS NG-23

508 $ grep CREW.DRAGON.11 *
satellites.json: "name": "CREW DRAGON 11",
tle10.txt:CREW DRAGON 11

Apparently both exist, easily confused if in motion.

--
gil

[JAY RESPLER]

These are both docked to ISS so you are really getting predictions for ISS.

Neither  may even be in orbit next summer.

Do not waste time predicting for them.

---
Jay Respler
609-662-7438
JRes...@superlink.net
Monroe Township, New Jersey

---

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