Observations made 13 Feb 2003 ------------------------------ CoSaTrak 1, 85mm f/1.6 lens with 0.003 lux CCD surveillance camera. + 70mm f/1.3 telephoto lens with 0.003 lux CCD surveillance camera Conditions - poor - bright moon - seeing fair Cospar Site #0433 Long 18.5129 E, Lat 33.9406 S, altitude 10 metres 25744 99 028A 0433 P 20030213191548600 17 15 0712176-000521 39 S+058 05 25744 99 028A 0433 P 20030213191816400 17 15 0747423-134658 39 S+056 05 25744 99 028A 0433 P 20030213191921400 17 15 0805588-195333 39 S+054 05 23862 96 029D 0433 P 20030213192548200 17 15 0232051-590158 39 S+062 05 23908 96 029C 0433 P 20030213192548200 17 15 0227372-583645 39 S+062 05 23936 96 029E 0433 P 20030213192548200 17 15 0221181-592534 39 S+058 05 23862 96 029D 0433 P 20030213192751800 17 15 0535207-322101 39 S+055 05 23908 96 029C 0433 P 20030213192751800 17 15 0530594-321212 39 S+054 05 23936 96 029E 0433 P 20030213192751800 17 15 0528329-341611 39 S+051 05 23031 94 017B 0433 P 20030213194438900 17 15 0359518+055450 39 I+033 05 23031 94 017B 0433 P 20030213194604300 17 15 0204294-291749 39 I+045 05 25991 99 067A 0433 P 20030213201342400 17 15 1415082-615503 39 S+073 05 25991 99 067A 0433 P 20030213201405900 17 15 1343144-614233 39 S+071 05 25991 99 067A 0433 P 20030213201456600 17 15 1241566-594109 39 S+068 05 23851 96 024A 0433 P 20030213202414600 17 15 1352448-590546 39 S+075 05 23851 96 024A 0433 P 20030213202444400 17 15 1314336-574528 39 S+073 05 23851 96 024A 0433 P 20030213202506000 17 15 1245376-560545 39 S+073 05 25724 99 023A 0433 P 20030213205415800 17 15 0434116-081352 39 S+065 05 25724 99 023A 0433 P 20030213205739900 17 15 0521511-113059 39 S+063 05 11731 80 019C 0433 P 20030213210722900 17 15 0522413-231532 39 I+085 05 11731 80 019C 0433 P 20030213210837300 17 15 0538365-411747 39 I+085 05 11731 80 019C 0433 P 20030213210904700 17 15 0546492-482347 39 I+086 05 25744 99 028A 0433 P 20030213215254100 17 15 0437193-415223 39 R+080 05 25744 99 028A 0433 P 20030213215514400 17 15 0440487-560151 39 R+067 05 25744 99 028A 0433 P 20030213215811700 17 15 0437131-735036 39 R+078 05 18025 87 043H 0433 P 20030213221736400 17 15 1513336-493831 39 I+085 05 Notes: A new setup produced numerous teething problems as follows: (a) Forgot to switch video recoder on - lost DMSP B5C-04, DMSP 5D-2 S-14, and DMSP B5D2-6 before I discovered error. (b) My equipment has been modified so that I no longer have to set it up at the start of observing or bring the mounting inside at the end of each session. It looks like I used too much grease on the gears/worms with the result that the mount frequently lost position and I had to recalibrate on a bright star. The grease will be removed. (c) My precision clock is not behaving itself at the moment and is drifting to the extent I will have to adjust the frequency of the crystal oscillator. I am not sure why it has suddenly "gone bad" - could be the weather/temperatures experienced recently.The drift of this clock does not affect the times displayed on the video as this uses a different clock. (d) Normally the ccd cameras get quite warm. I have added a fan to one camera to cool the chips down and reduce thermal noise, as well as decreasing the voltage on one camera from +12v to +8.5v. It looks like I went a little too low - as the outside air cooled down the camera ceased to function properly. The voltage will now be increased to about +9v. (e) On low altitude satellites the new camera vibrates too much so will have to be dampened a bit. (f) Experienced minor computer problems ( mainly my fault) which caused me to miss the first pass of 96072A - USA 129 and unfortunately the second pass did not clear the roof of my house. Cheers Greg ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 14 2003 - 13:50:10 EST