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Skyglow

Multi-band · mobile radio observatory

Skyglow turns one software-defined radio attached to a Mac into a private observatory for aircraft, radio audio, weather satellites, and nearby wireless sensors. The interface is designed around iPhone Safari and is available at skyglow.ramideltoro.com.

Open Skyglow Browse the source Antenna Observatory wiki

flowchart LR
    A[Antenna] --> B[Nooelec NESDR]
    B --> C[Mac receiver service]
    C --> D[(Local history and captures)]
    C <-->|Reverse SSH| E[ServerCheap web edge]
    E --> F[Cloudflare Tunnel]
    F --> G[iPhone Safari]

What it can do

  • Watch aircraft

Plot nearby aircraft, altitude, speed, direction, signal age, and range records from local 1090 MHz reception.

Use Skyglow

  • Replay the sky

Review seven days of sampled tracks and animate ten-minute trails without joining long reception gaps.

Data and API

  • Hear nearby signals

Listen to aircraft AM or NOAA weather FM through iPhone-compatible AAC HLS audio.

Receiver modes

  • Capture and discover

Schedule supported Meteor LRPT captures or decode compatible wireless sensors with SatDump and rtl_433.

Receiver modes

The central constraint

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Aircraft
    Aircraft --> Listen: start timed session
    Aircraft --> Satellite: start pass capture
    Aircraft --> Sensors: start timed session
    Listen --> Aircraft: timer, stop, or error
    Satellite --> Aircraft: decode, timer, or error
    Sensors --> Aircraft: timer, stop, or error

One physical receiver can tune one band at a time. Aircraft collection pauses during Listen, Satellite, or Sensors and resumes automatically when the session ends. Replay and previously saved results remain available in every mode.

Documentation map

Need Start here
Open the app on an iPhone Using Skyglow
Understand the VPS and Mac split Architecture
Choose a frequency or decoder Receiver modes
Understand storage and endpoints Data and API
Recover a failed service Operations and Troubleshooting
Review safeguards Security
Understand releases CI/CD and Current release