Observations 04 Jan 2005: (part1)
------------------------------------
Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System).
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 200mm focal length f/3.5 lens giving a field of view of about
1.805 x 1.334 degrees. Magnitude +12 stars are quite easy to see even
when close to horizon.
Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S,
Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
26906 01 040B 0433 G 20050104201037300 17 15 2224115-455703 39
26906 01 040B 0433 G 20050104201440500 17 15 0158064-160705 39
26906 01 040B 0433 G 20050104201655000 17 15 0328123+130634 39
28054 03 048A 0433 G 20050104203115100 17 15 2332021-154746 39
28054 03 048A 0433 G 20050104203129900 17 15 2336474-125101 39
28054 03 048A 0433 G 20050104203149200 17 15 2341567-092851 39
23851 96 024A 0433 G 20050104211844900 17 15 1302306-670054 39
23851 96 024A 0433 G 20050104212031400 17 15 0942562-631055 39
23851 96 024A 0433 G 20050104212114800 17 15 0826519-540444 39
90028 04 846A 0433 G 20050104221528100 17 15 0234496-373730 39
90028 04 846A 0433 G 20050104221629600 17 15 0311497-325244 39
90028 04 846A 0433 G 20050104221723300 17 15 0340301-281047 39
90028 04 846A 0433 G 20050104221812000 17 15 0403438-233824 39
27938 03 041B 0433 G 20050104215018600 17 15 0629455+011551 39
27938 03 041B 0433 G 20050104214401500 17 15 0623227+012405 39
90013 03 564A 0433 G 20050104214908700 17 15 0754068+124930 39
90013 03 564A 0433 G 20050104211213100 17 15 0716480+130638 39
25744 99 028A 0433 G 20050104212257300 17 15 1748475-755209 39
25744 99 028A 0433 G 20050104212403300 17 15 1624114-760807 39
25744 99 028A 0433 G 20050104212555500 17 15 1424078-721957 39
21949 92 023A 0433 G 20050104212754100 17 15 0948196-621214 39
21949 92 023A 0433 G 20050104212822300 17 15 1046598-673142 39
21949 92 023A 0433 G 20050104212908400 17 15 1238484-710510 39
14729 84 012D 0433 G 20050104213956200 17 15 0039252-455346 39
14729 84 012D 0433 G 20050104214034600 17 15 0124382-420406 39
14729 84 012D 0433 G 20050104214113000 17 15 0213304-353804 39
23947 96 038C 0433 G 20050104221005500 17 15 2358398-484753 39
23947 96 038C 0433 G 20050104221140300 17 15 0009343-490154 39
23947 96 038C 0433 G 20050104221335400 17 15 0023425-491246 39
Notes:
~~~~~~
(1) Testing out a 200mm f/3.5 lens -- good quality images but
some field curvature top left corner but not a problem. The
sky views are fantastic - the shape of Messier 1 ( the Crab
Nebula) is obvious and the nebulosity around Messier 42 in
Orion is quite delicate. Omega Centauri is also worth looking
at and despite living near the centre of the city of Cape Town
I have no trouble seeing the milky way with the camera and
the Large Magellanic Cloud is also a pretty site- at the moment
I am spending a lot of time sight seeing instead of tracking!
Experiments are still being carried out to determine my mode
of attack for tracking and its quite difficult to decide which
lens to use - if the satellite is running "off-time" one needs a
large field, but for maximum magnitude penetration one has to
use relatively long focal length lenses which means a small field
of view - ideally I need two MINTRON cameras!! Guess my next step
is to try some of the variable telephoto lenses I have -- these
I buy "second hand" from pawn shops etc and usually cost around
ten to fifteen US dollars each.
(2) Reducing observations is still slow but I think I have found part
of the solution - record the video tape to AVI using VIRTUAL DUB -
this can handle an avi file up to 4 Gbytes and once in the pc its
very easy to jump around in the avi ( backwards and forwards and
even single step frames - much easier than using a video recorder
to move through the tape - also saves wear and tear on the recorder.
At the moment I am also keeping the image I used to determine a
particular position as the image quality is quite good. At a later
date I will probably delete them.
(3) Still a few satellites to report - nothing exciting and I want to
carefully examine the recordings of some predicted geostationary sats
locations that have not been observed for some time. Last tracking
session I thought I had found a new one but it turned out to be a
Raduga satellite (91014A #21132) drifting past 90013.
(4) My camera mount now has a NEW covering! For the last two years I have
kept the CoSaTrak mounting outside and covered with a large plastic
laundry bin I "borrowed" from my wife. Anyway the ultraviolet rays from
the sun have made it very brittle and it had developed some cracks.
Today I purchased a 120 litre dirt bin that should survive the weather
for a few more years - probably will outlive me and is ideal for the
job !
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 : Wed Jan 05 2005 - 12:07:59 EST