8-Bit Sky Radar

A small desktop radar app in Python with a retro 8-bit look.

It shows a top-down sky view over your location with:

• satellites
• spacecraft and orbital stations
• visible planets
• nearby aircraft

Features

• 8-bit radar screen with horizon, zenith, and compass directions
• local sky projection for all visible objects
• clickable objects on the radar
• clickable rows in the object list
• side telemetry panel with live values
• past track line
• predicted future track line with dots
• filters for SAT, SPACE, PLANETS, AIR, and ALL
• aircraft live position data from OpenSky
• optional enriched aircraft data such as airline, origin, destination, aircraft type, and registration

Notes

Satellite data depends on CelesTrak access.
If CelesTrak is blocked on your network or virtual machine, satellites and spacecraft may not appear.

Aircraft enrichment depends on an external flight data provider.
If no enrichment key is configured, some aircraft fields may show as N/A.

Install

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate   # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py

Controls

• TAB / arrow keys: change selection
• 1: satellites
• 2: spacecraft
• 3: planets
• 4: aircraft
• 5: all
• left click on radar object: select object
• left click on list row: select object
• ESC: quit

Observer location

Edit skyradar/config.py:

ObserverConfig(
    name="Home",
    latitude=52.1601,
    longitude=4.4970,
    elevation_m=0.0,
)

Optional aircraft enrichment

Set your API key before running:

Windows CMD

set AVIATIONSTACK_ACCESS_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
python main.py
PowerShell
$env:AVIATIONSTACK_ACCESS_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
python main.py

If needed:

Windows CMD

set AVIATIONSTACK_BASE_URL=http://api.aviationstack.com/v1
set AVIATIONSTACK_ACCESS_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
python main.py