Optical 24 August 2008

From: Greg Roberts (grr@telkomsa.net)
Date: Mon Aug 25 2008 - 08:48:01 UTC

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    Observations  24 August 2008
    -------------------------------------
    
    Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System).
    Camera mount now carries two systems that can be operated
    together as two totally different sytems and computers used.
    Generally the DSI Pro II camera will be used for high altitude
    slow moving objects. Tests seem to indicate that its sesnitivity
    is comparable to the MINTRON ( possibly better) but as its not
    possible (?) to time stamp to better than 1 second accuracy the
    time resolution is not good enough for LEO objects.
    
    Meade DSI Pro II Monochrome CCD camera without filters.
    using integration times of 20 sec min to 60 seconds maximum
    depending on brightness of sky in particular area.No image
    processing done but dark field applied.
    Used with 200mm focal length f/2.8 Nikkon telephoto lens,
    field of view 1.88 x 1.40 degrees. Can get to magnitude 13
    or so in less than 20 seconds exposure.
    Exposure time to nearest second inserted into image FITS header
    from PC clock which is automatically checked every minute against
    GPS signal.
    
    Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude  33.94058 deg S,
    Elevation 10 metres-situated in Pinelands (Cape Town),South Africa
    
    
    For CLASSFD.TLE:
    ------------------------
    
    23945 96 038A   0433 F 20080824183258000 56 15 1611470+034727 39  +085 05
    15543 85 010B   0433 F 20080824172805000 56 15 2057136-113138 39  +080 05
    15543 85 010B   0433 F 20080824173054000 56 15 2100115-112815 39  +080 05
    27691 03 008A   0433 F 20080824181548000 56 15 2048181+051324 39  +105 05
    27691 03 008A   0433 F 20080824181818000 56 15 2050480+051329 39  +105 05
    05204 71 039A   0433 F 20080824180605000 56 15 2146208+042621 39  +125 05
    05204 71 039A   0433 F 20080824181212000 56 15 2152178+044402 39  +125 05
    05851 72 010A   0433 F 20080824175823000 56 15 2138273+013257 39  +120 05
    05851 72 010A   0433 F 20080824180316000 56 15 2143125+014850 39  +120 05
    26880 01 033A   0433 F 20080824175245000 56 15 2108199+015208 39  +110 05
    26880 01 033A   0433 F 20080824175515000 56 15 2110491+015048 39  +110 05
    25336 98 029A   0433 F 20080824171324000 56 15 1838519-030942 39  +075 05
    25336 98 029A   0433 F 20080824171613000 56 15 1841454-031008 39  +075 05
    27168 02 001A   0433 F 20080824172116000 56 15 1740103+034608 39  +095 05
    27168 02 001A   0433 F 20080824172343000 56 15 1742377+034457 39  +095 05
    25967 99 063A   0433 F 20080824173741000 56 15 2103168+031205 39  +105 05
    25967 99 063A   0433 F 20080824174011000 56 15 2105484+031157 39  +105 05
    28117 03 057A   0433 F 20080824174629000 56 15 2107580+040649 39  +105 05
    28117 03 057A   0433 F 20080824174759000 56 15 2110290+040752 39  +105 05
    
    Strays seen:
    ------------
    INTELSAT 904 geostationary
    27380 02 007A   0433 F 20080824181548000 56 15 2049240+051316 39  +100 05
    27380 02 007A   0433 F 20080824181818000 56 15 2051531+051257 39  +100 05
    ABS 1 geostationary
    25924 99 053A   0433 F 20080824180605000 56 15 2144272+050406 39  +080 05
    
    
    Notes:
    ------
    (1) Only DSI Pro II camera used so time resolution only 1 second-this may
    affect accuracy of #23945 which was tracked through very thick cloud.
    
    (2) Night began reasonably well with some cloud but eventually forced to
    stop when it suddenly clouded over completely and rained causing a mad rush
    to get all the equipment out of the rain. I am beginning to despair that
    I will ever have a good clear 4 hours of tracking.
    
    Cheers
    Greg
    
    
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