Mike McCants pointed out that the payloads also passed close Bram's reference star (after accounting for Earth's rotation). I intended to test for this, but made an error, for which I apologize. Bram does not recall seeing any variation in brightness, as has been typical of previous NOSS Centaurs, but points out that he was observing in twilight, and concentrating on spotting suitable reference stars. The C object would have to have manoeuvred lower to account for Bram's observation, which is unlikely given the circumstances. The A object would have to have manoeuvred higher, as would be expected. The following estimated elements are based on the assumption of a boost in apogee at the first perigee passage following my observation of July 17: NOSS 3-4 (A) 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 v 1 70001U 07198.36655093 .00000020 00000-0 20000-4 0 01 2 70001 63.4314 321.8473 0243300 149.2098 357.5000 13.64602408 08 Of course, the manoeuvre could well have been made at a later perigee passage, which would have required a lower mean motion to account for Bram's observation of July 19. Therefore, the above predicts the earliest possible passes - assuming a manoeuvre was made. That Bram may have observed the Centaur remains a possibility, so this orbit should be also be considered when planning observations: NOSS 3-4 r 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 v 1 70000U 07200.09580003 .00000023 00000-0 20000-4 0 05 2 70000 63.9673 317.6366 0286546 143.3187 218.7854 13.68536780 05 along with the last known orbits of A and C: 1 31701U 07027A 07198.33702639 .00000020 00000-0 20000-4 0 07 2 31701 63.4314 321.9258 0238987 149.2099 212.3211 13.65513069 07 1 31708U 07027C 07198.33893478 .00000020 00000-0 20000-4 0 06 2 31708 63.4187 321.8999 0233687 149.5273 211.9586 13.65060156 06 I have a couple of pre-dawn passes, but weather remains difficult. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 19 2007 - 21:51:53 EDT