Gerald Holtkamp wrote: >I've tried to contact the MESSENGER staff at Johns Hopkins >in order to get a state vector for the flyby so that I can >do calculations with regard to visibility but haven't got >any reply so far. Does anybody know how I could get a flyby >state vector? You might want to try the MESSENGER Trajectory Database at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/MD/servlet/Trajdb It has a few vague similarities to the JPL Horizons site. After you log in (free registration), pick 'Date and Time', and after that pick 'Current Best Trajectory'. Then you can either put in the time span you want, or you can pick the Earth flyby shortcut which pads 90 minutes on each side of closest approach. There are several coordinate system options for output which should give you the state vector you are looking for. When you get to the 'Output Options' page, be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom and pick one of the three output file types. Gene Heyler Columbia, MD ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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