PUBLIC OBSERVATORY

Explore every desk

Every tool has a page. Pick a desk, then go directly to what interests you.

Aviation

  • Live flight map

    Follow aircraft through the Airplanes.live receiver network. Provider coverage and aircraft visibility vary.

  • How tracking works

    Explore ADS-B broadcasts and multilateration using the interactive receiver diagram.

  • Tracking field notes

    Read the signals, understand the gaps, and follow the original technical sources.

  • Airspeed units

    Convert a groundspeed between knots, kilometers per hour, and miles per hour.

  • Aviation weather

    Airport observations and terminal forecasts, with original reports and clearly dated interpretations.

  • METAR observations

    Current reported airport conditions: wind, visibility, temperature, clouds, and the original METAR.

  • TAF forecasts

    Read terminal forecasts as separate, timed forecast groups while retaining the original TAF.

  • Aviation reports

    Explore preliminary notices, official investigation reports, community records, and source references. These sources have different scopes and update schedules.

  • Report world map

    Explore sourced aviation records by region. Pins show the stated or approximate reference location, with unlocated records retained.

  • Recent FAA notices

    Recent preliminary accident and incident notices, with occurrence dates and FAA notice dates kept separate.

  • Worldwide records

    Selected community-maintained records from Wikidata. This is an incomplete index, not an official worldwide event feed.

  • UK AAIB reports

    Official UK investigation summaries, with report publication and event dates kept distinct.

  • NOTAMs

    Open the official FAA NOTAM Search tool and read its briefing context.

  • NTSB accident dashboard

    Explore NTSB’s published accident charts and original investigation documents.

  • Investigation sources

    Follow Aviation Safety Network’s worldwide references and original source material.

Radio

  • Reception activity map

    Explore reported amateur-radio reception through the PSK Reporter map.

  • APRS map

    Packet-radio positions, weather stations, and network activity through the public APRS Track Direct map.

  • Reading the bands

    Understand reception reports, propagation paths, and what a radio map can tell you.

  • EAM reception log

    Independent public copies of military HF traffic, with receiver provenance, source times and uncertainty flags.

  • EAM & HFGCS field guide

    A source-based guide to military Emergency Action Messages, the global HF network, and what public reception logs can establish.

  • Number stations

    Coded shortwave broadcasts, documented history, reception references and listening resources.

Space weather

  • Current conditions

    NOAA’s observed geomagnetic, radio-blackout, and solar-radiation scales, with source times.

  • Kp history

    The latest reported three-hour geomagnetic index intervals, with their original observation times.

  • Aurora forecast

    NOAA’s northern and southern aurora outlooks. The image includes the provider’s issue and valid times.

  • Reading the scales

    A source-linked guide to NOAA scales, Kp, and the difference between observations and forecasts.

Satellites

  • Orbit tracker

    Track the ISS and selected amateur-radio satellites using N2YO’s public widget.

  • Amateur-radio satellites

    ISS, SO-50, AO-91, and RS-44 reference notes, with current status links to their operators and AMSAT.

  • Understanding passes

    Understand predicted positions, observer location, and radio passes before interpreting a tracker.

Observations

  • Observation world map

    Select a regional marker to open its observation file. Locations are approximate references, not image footprints.

Signals lab

  • Daylight & gray line

    Follow the boundary between day and night using a locally calculated solar position. This is a geometry model, not a propagation forecast.

  • Grid squares & bearings

    Convert coordinates and Maidenhead locators, then calculate a great-circle distance and initial true bearing between grid-square centers.

  • Morse workbench

    Encode and decode International Morse code, or listen to a short practice sequence generated on your device.

  • Wavelength workbench

    Explore ideal free-space wavelength from frequency. These are reference dimensions, not corrected antenna cutting lengths.

Earthquakes

  • Earthquake world map

    A world map of the USGS M2.5+ feed. Filter the last day or week, then open a marker to inspect the event.

  • Earthquake updates

    Recent earthquake reports and source revisions, with event times kept separate from publication updates.

  • Reading earthquake reports

    Understand magnitude, depth, source revisions, coverage and on-page updates.

Public notices

  • NWS public alerts

    Current official U.S. watches, warnings, advisories and other NWS-distributed messages, with original issue times and instructions.

  • EAS live feed

    Read EAS messages directly from FEMA IPAWS-OPEN, with original issuer text, affected areas, UTC timestamps and clearly marked tests.

  • IPAWS alert archive

    Broader IPAWS warning records across EAS and WEA pathways, including non-weather messages, tests and cancellations. Historical: delayed at least 24 hours.

  • Worldwide notices

    GDACS natural-disaster notices and event references, clearly separated from military transmissions and local public warning systems.

  • Preparedness desk

    A global country directory, reviewed household guidance and dated publications from connected official sources.

  • Country directory

    Find reviewed preparedness guidance and official warning-authority references, with coverage clearly stated.

  • Official preparedness updates

    Dated publications from connected government publishers. New campaigns, standing guidance and local instructions retain their source context.