Optical 25 August 2008 Part 1

From: Greg Roberts (grr@telkomsa.net)
Date: Tue Aug 26 2008 - 13:13:35 UTC

  • Next message: Ted Molczan: "RE: TJM obs of 2008 Aug 26 UTC"

    Observations 25 August 2008 Part 1
    -------------------------------------------
    
    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.
    
    (1) MINTRON low light level CCD surveillance camera (0.005
    lux typical in non integration mode) and 0.00005 lux in STARLIGHT
    mode with 128 frame integration.
    Used with 135mm focal length f/2.8 lens,integrating for 128 frames
    which is equivalent to a max exposure of 2.56 seconds maximum
    per image. Field of view 2.7 x 2.1 degrees.
    Individual frames are video time stamped with GPS derived signal.
    
    (2)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:
    -----------------------
    
    29240 06 024A   0433 F 20080825170759000 56 15 1617324+060759 39  +075 05
    29240 06 024A   0433 F 20080825171449000 56 15 1624370+060416 39  +075 05
    29240 06 024A   0433 F 20080825184620000 56 15 1759559+051448 39  +075 05
    08916 76 059A   0433 F 20080825171825000 56 15 1555009-094206 39  +135 05
    08916 76 059A   0433 F 20080825172031000 56 15 1557091-094320 39  +120 05
    08916 76 059A   0433 F 20080825172307000 56 15 1559533-094517 39  +120 05
    96060 96 560A   0433 F 20080825172742000 56 15 1649429-183400 39  +130 05
    96060 96 560A   0433 F 20080825173309000 56 15 1657138-183850 39  +130 05
    96055 96 555A   0433 F 20080825173726000 56 15 1741491-113200 39  +125 05
    96055 96 555A   0433 F 20080825174053000 56 15 1744498-113052 39  +115 05
    32287 07 054A   0433 F 20080825174929000 56 15 1631115+041712 39  +090 05
    32287 07 054A   0433 F 20080825175420000 56 15 1636032+042140 39  +090 05
    23945 96 038A   0433 F 20080825181914700 56 15 1415189-210645 39  +085 05
    23945 96 038A   0433 F 20080825182101200 56 15 1450178-145209 39  +083 05
    23945 96 038A   0433 F 20080825182301800 56 15 1520365-083338 39  +080 05
    23945 96 038A   0433 F 20080825182519900 56 15 1546475-022550 39  +078 05
    
    Unknown:
    -----------
    
    99999 08 731A   0433 F 20080825195104500 56 15 1720269+073130 39  +075 05
    99999 08 731A   0433 F 20080825195114400 56 15 1721004+071125 39  +075 05
    99999 08 731A   0433 F 20080825195130300 56 15 1721489+063554 39  +075 05
    99999 08 731A   0433 F 20080825195141800 56 15 1722266+061031 39  +075 05
    99999 08 731A   0433 F 20080825195159500 56 15 1723193+053121 39  +075 05
    
    Notes:
    --------
    
    (1) Another evening battling with clouds but this time it finally
        clouded over when I was just about ready to call it a day.
    
    (2) The unknown observed on 18 August 2008 was finally observed again.
        Mike McCants produced an element set from the 18 August observations
        but cloudy weather at the appropiate times prevented observations.
        I decided to do a plane scan but in the end it proved mostly a waste
        of time as Mikes element set was so good the satellite was only
        20 seconds late and 17 arc minutes east of the predicted track so
        this satellite is an Unknown that we now have a decent orbit for. It
        appears to be in a typical SDS Molniya orbit with the following
        parameters: inclination 63 degrees, argument of perigee 273.7 degrees
        eccentricity - 0.71 and RA Ascending Node 87.83 degrees and does
        2.0061 orbits per day which means that it comes slightly earlier
        each day but executes an almost identical pass each night relative
        to the background stars. The orbital period would appear to indicate
        that the satellite is still operational so it will be worth checking
        for transmissions on the usual SDS frequency.
    
    (3) Mitex is an irregular flasher, being invisible most of the time but
        reaching magnitude around +7.5 - quite an easy object with the CCD
        camera.
    
    (4) DSP-F6 quite faint and variable. 96060 is also faint with some
        variability, whilst 96055 is a little brighter. DSP-F23 is bright
        with the usual DSP spin period.
    
    (5) Despite quite intensive searches I have NOT been able to find the
        following:
    
        DSCS 3-12, VORTEX 1, DSP-F20 and MERCURY 2 - I suspect these have
        been moved to new locations.
    
    (6) I have quite a few more satellites still to report .
    
    Cheers
    Greg
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive:  
    http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 26 2008 - 13:19:53 UTC