Obs 13 Feb 2003

From: Greg Roberts (grr@iafrica.com)
Date: Fri Feb 14 2003 - 08:18:17 EST

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    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
    
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