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
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