Finally, I purchased a laptop and used it to aid in observing satellites real time. Last night (Dec 3/04) the temperature was low, my hands were freezing cold and my computer was set atop a towel on the hood of my pickup. I was parked at +42D 24M 50S by -92D 22M 0S just N of Eagle Center, Iowa. The time was approaching 6 PM local time. I had plugged in only the “visual” satellites obtained from McCants' files. As I watched satellites cross the computer screen I tried to find them in the sky. It was much easier to locate them with my low power night vision scope initially but after using that scope, one eye had no night vision for binoculars. I spotted several objects. It still was not easy finding them when there were no identifiable stars close by. When two passed through the zenith I was surprised how high that was! Not used to cranking my cervical vertebra that much. Most of the sats were about 2 seconds late but traveled right along the line where they were predicted to travel. Using the software, TheSky, I time-skipped ahead hoping to find a pair of satellites passing close to each other but found none at an acceptable altitude. However, as I watched the Cosmos 44 rocket body travel through Cetus low in the eastern sky I saw a second satellite (one not on my computer screen) approach it. To my delight they passed within .44 degrees of each other! The time of closest approach was 17:49:57 local time or 23:49:57 UTC. What was that other satellite I wondered? I then, for the first time, when I got home downloaded the satellite data for all LEO objects from McCants. I selected the lot and low and behold, amongst the myriad of sats, I found one very close to Cosmos 44! It was ADEOS 1. I ran the simulation and saw exactly what had happened in the sky. All excited, I took my laptop to a basketball game at the school where I teach. For a few students I ran the simulation. They too were delighted. The TLEs I used follow: Cosmos 44 Rocket 1 00877U 64053B 04336.51517110 +.00000075 +00000-0 +41327-4 0 07527 2 00877 065.0791 337.2295 0053253 114.9169 245.7477 14.57873041133522 ADEOS 1 1 24277U 96046A 04338.63530245 .00000048 00000-0 35584-4 0 8285 2 24277 98.2684 359.7435 0001888 100.3801 259.7595 14.28518428432414 I was pleased to experience this laptop usage for the first time after hearing about what it was like as told by Russ Bessom some two years ago. [By the way Russ, are you still out there?] After the show, totally off topic here, I noticed a nicely defined 2-inch hole in the hard packed soil in front of my truck. Being curious, I walked over to it and shone my flashlight down the hole. Low and behold, there was a cute little field mouse inside looking out at me. I said hi, apologized to him for the disturbance, and left some crackers as compensation. All in all a good night in the field, in a farmer’s field that is. Tom Iowa USA + + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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