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.