Observations 01 April 2003:
---------------------------------
Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System), 1004x low
light level CCD surveillance camera (0.003 lux) with 82mm focal
length f/1.6 lens with focal reducer.
Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S,
Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
90015 03 ???A 0433 G 20030401205555000 17 15 1052013+052338 39 +074 05
90015 03 ???A 0433 G 20030401210011600 17 15 1056133+052344 39 +076 05
90015 03 ???A 0433 G 20030401211031500 17 15 1106391+052348 39 +079 05
90015 03 ???A 0433 G 20030401211502700 17 15 1111124+052624 39 +083 05
90015 03 ???A 0433 G 20030401212903400 17 15 1125160+052903 39 +088 05
Notes:
(1) This MAY be a new geostationary unknown. I was looking for the
ASTRA constellation and found this satellite about 1.2 degrees
west of where the ASTRA constellation was predicted to be in GUIDE.
I could not see the ASTRA satellites . When first spotted the
satellite was quite bright and steady and then slowly started to
fade to almost invisible in my system then slowly started to brighten
again. When near its faintest I suspected I could see another fainter
satellite very slightly north of it which makes me think I was in fact
observing one or two members of the ASTRA constellation. I used the
latest elements for geostationary satellites and all the ASTRA
constellation were in a close grouping further east and south of where
I was looking. No other satellites were predicted for the location
observed.
(2) I observed another geostationary satellite but this was identified as
Intelsat 6-3. This was about magnitude +7.5.
(3) I have changed my observing technique slightly.I now run a second
computer in addition to the computer that controls the telescope.
This computer runs GUIDE 8 and at the start of each predicted pass
I set GUIDE up to show the predicted path and then run the computer
in realtime with ALLDAT.TLE as the elements source. I am able to
see potential occultations/appulses etc coming up as well as
identify "unknowns" going across the field of view. In this way I
hope to be able to identify "unknowns" faster and if none shown
then track the "unknown". Another feature of this method is that I
can verify that the telescope is set at the correct position and
in addition it makes it easier to spot the very faint satellites
since I know exactly where to look-assuming the predictions are
correct.
Cheers
Greg
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Apr 03 2003 - 12:07:26 EST