Getting Started with SCORE

Share Your Observations

Contribute your satellite brightness and position measurements to the SCORE database.

Understand the Data Format

Download a sample observation CSV file to see required and optional fields. Follow the specified column order.

Prepare Your Data

Organize brightness and position data in a CSV using SCORE's column format. Leave optional fields blank if not applicable.

Upload & Review

Submit your CSV on the upload page. Any data processed before an error occurs will be uploaded. After processing, review your data or request changes if needed (in case of errors).

Access Observations

Search and download satellite observations from the SCORE database.

Search All Observations
  • Go to the Search page (or click "Data access → Search all observations" in the top menu).
  • Filter by satellite name, number, or international designator, as well as additional fields such as time range, location, and observation type.
  • Click "Search" to view results.
  • Download results as a CSV file or view details in the browser.

Example: Search for "Kuiper" to find over 400 observations.

Browse by Satellite
  • Go to the Satellites page (or click "Data access → Observed satellites" in the top menu).
  • Use the search box to find satellites by name or number, or sort by the column headers.
  • Click a satellite to view all its observations, see statistics, or download data.

Example: View observations for satellite 63746

Using SCORE Data

All SCORE data is freely available under a CC-BY 4.0 license. When using SCORE data in publications, please include the following acknowledgement (available in the SCORE Use Policy):

"This research made use of data and/or services provided by the International Astronomical Union's Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS). The development of SCORE has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant number: AST 2332736. SCORE is hosted at the NSF NOIRLab. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the International Astronomical Union."
For a sample Python script to create a CSV from a Pandas DataFrame, and additional tools, visit our Tools page.