{"id":1176,"date":"2013-03-16T18:12:42","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T18:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=1176"},"modified":"2013-03-16T18:19:36","modified_gmt":"2013-03-16T18:19:36","slug":"operation-moonwatch-volunteers-monitored-early-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=1176","title":{"rendered":"Operation Moonwatch &#8211; volunteers monitored early satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here are interesting historical accounts of a nationwide program in the US started in the 1950s to organize amateur astronomers in the tracking of satellites:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.patrickmccray.com\/tag\/operation-moonwatch\/\" target=\"_d\">Operation Moonwatch &#8211; Leaping Robot Blog\/Patrick McCray &#8211; Feb.6.13<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/100744\/citizen-science-old-school-style-the-true-tale-of-operation-moonwatch\/\" target=\"_d\">Citizen Science, Old-School Style: The True Tale of Operation Moonwatch<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Find more about modern tracking of spacecraft in the <a class=\"linkLocal\" href=\"..\/SatWatching\/index.html\">HobbySpace Satellite Observing section<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rcm.amazon.com\/e\/cm?t=hobbyspace&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as1&amp;asins=0691128545&amp;ref=tf_til&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr\" height=\"240\" width=\"320\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are interesting historical accounts of a nationwide program in the US started in the 1950s to organize amateur astronomers in the tracking of satellites: Operation Moonwatch &#8211; Leaping Robot Blog\/Patrick McCray &#8211; Feb.6.13 Citizen Science, Old-School Style: The True Tale of Operation Moonwatch Find more about modern tracking of spacecraft in the HobbySpace Satellite &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=1176\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Operation Moonwatch &#8211; volunteers monitored early satellites<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-satellite-watching","category-space-participation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-iY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1688,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=1688","url_meta":{"origin":1176,"position":0},"title":"AMSAT and ISS amateur radio news","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Go to AMSAT News for the latest headlines about developments in amateur and student satellites and for updates about amateur radio on the ISS. ANS 104 Weekly AMSAT Bulletin - April 13, 2013: * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Solicited * 7330.6 km Contact Made Via FO-29 * GS3PYE\/p Satellite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Amateur\/Student Satellite&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Amateur\/Student Satellite","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3326,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3326","url_meta":{"origin":1176,"position":1},"title":"Satellite watching intro","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a nicely done overview of how to observe satellites passing overhead from your backyard and without a telescope: How to Spot and Track Satellites - Universe Today - July.11.13 Find more about tracking spacecraft in the HobbySpace Satellite Observing section. You can also use the the Satellite Tracking Tool\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Satellite Watching&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Satellite Watching","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=29"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15275,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15275","url_meta":{"origin":1176,"position":2},"title":"Weather satellite image reception with tracking antenna on a converted telescope mount","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are links to a set of How-To postings on receiving weather satellite images with a low cost home system that includes the conversion of a telescope mount into an automated antenna that follows weather satellites across the sky: Orbital Weather Satellite APT Image Reception - SDRplay Community Forum -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/NOAA-19-59W-540x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12561,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12561","url_meta":{"origin":1176,"position":3},"title":"BINARY SPACE Satellite Tracking Tool available as free Win 10 app","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"BINARY SPACE's Satellite Tracking\u00a0Tool\u00a0is now available as a free app for Windows 10:\u00a0SpaceTracker\u2122 \u2013 Windows Games on Microsoft Store The SpaceTracker\u2122 is a 2D\/3D real-time satellite tracking application. It allows you to determine the current position of most Earth-centric satellites currently in orbit and also features location pass & interlink\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"Win10AppVersion-2016-05","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Win10AppVersion-2016-05-1024x718.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27976,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=27976","url_meta":{"origin":1176,"position":4},"title":"AMSAT opens BuzzSat program for kids + Free intro book with AMSAT membership","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 23, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"AMSAT, the Amateur Radio in Space organization, has introduced the BuzzSat initiative, which aims to encourage youth to pursue careers in aerospace and communications with an education science, technology, engineering art, and math (STEAM). BuzzSat provides a set of free online courses, which currently includes: An Introduction to Satellite Meteorology\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Amateur\/Student Satellite&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Amateur\/Student Satellite","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cover1-MM1-335x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17690,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17690","url_meta":{"origin":1176,"position":5},"title":"Ecliptic Enterprises avionics supported successful launch of SSO-A mission","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Rex Ridenoure of Ecliptic Enterprises forwarded to me the update below on the company's involvement with the launch of 64 satellites, including many university CubeSats, on a single SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last December. The SSO-A mission was organized by Spaceflight. (I'll note that Ecliptic is leading the development of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Amateur\/Student Satellite&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Amateur\/Student Satellite","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Liftoff-SpaceX.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1176"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1180,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions\/1180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}