Quickstart

Open the application

Online

Open app.lightcurve.space in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari and sign in with the account your organisation opened for you. Nothing to install.

Single file (offline)

For isolated sites: open LightCurve.html, delivered with the on-premises add-on, in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. The file holds the whole application and works offline.

From source

You need Node.js 22.13 or later (24 recommended).

cd app
npm install
npm run dev                 # http://localhost:5173
npm run build:standalone    # single file in dist-standalone/index.html

LightCurve needs WebGL 2 with floating-point render targets (EXT_color_buffer_float). Every recent browser has it when hardware acceleration is on.

Your first magnitude

Look at the default scene

LightCurve opens on a GEO telecom satellite seen from Haute-Provence Observatory at 20:30 UTC tonight. The big number on the right is its apparent V magnitude.

Change the geometry

In the Geometry tab, move the signed phase angle. The magnitude, the 3D view and the image seen by the sensor update at once. Negative phases are on the evening side, positive on the morning side.

Change the object

In the Satellite tab, pick another model (Starlink, ISS, Hubble, a rocket body) or a DISCOS shape and enter its dimensions.

Change the materials

In the Materials tab, change the albedo of the bus or the arrays. The Flux breakdown on the right shows which part sends the light.

Read the curves

The dock at the bottom shows the phase curve and the 24-hour curve. Click a point to move the simulation there.

The link button in the top bar copies a URL that holds the whole configuration: send it to a colleague to reproduce a simulation exactly.

Where to go next

Use a real orbit

Paste a TLE or load a CCSDS OEM, then jump to the next observable pass.

Compare with a measurement

Load an observation file and fit the model to it.