SATOBS ML (remote), 18 Jul 2015: 2010-050B & 2013-070B (Chang'e 2 & 3 r/b)

From: Marco Langbroek via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2015 14:19:31 +0200
37175 10 050B   9331 F 20150718181954000 17 75 0226013+066609 56 I+167 10
37175 10 050B   9331 F 20150718182413000 17 75 0226100+066187 56 I+173 10
37175 10 050B   9331 F 20150718182858000 17 75 0226197+065698 56 I+174 10
37175 10 050B   9331 F 20150718183339000 17 75 0226289+065229 56 I+171 10

39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718164819000 17 75 0010506-165750 56 I+183 10
39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718164939000 17 75 0010508-165771 56 I+173 10
39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718165100000 17 75 0010510-165791 56 I+156 10
39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718165220000 17 75 0010511-165809 56 I+168 10
39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718165341000 17 75 0010513-165828 56 I+179 10
39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718165501000 17 75 0010515-165846 56 I+185 10
39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718165622000 17 75 0010517-165867 56 I+171 10
39459 13 070B   9331 G 20150718165745000 17 75 0010518-165886 56 I+161 10

Skynet 4B r3
19689 88 109C   9331 F 20150718182024000 17 75 0225248+066416 56 I

----------------------------------------------------------------------
0.51-meter F/6.3 Dall-Kirkham + CCD + Astrometrica + UCAC4
Warrumbungle Obs., NSW, Australia   31.27517 S, 149.19453 E, 552 m ASL
What these numbers mean: http://www.satobs.org/position/IODformat.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Another session on extremely distant objects using the 0.51-m telescope of
Warrumbungle (MPC Q65), Australia. Targets were the same two Chang'e CZ-3C
boosters I have reported on earlier.

88-109C (Skynet 4B r3) was imaged as a stray, showing a clear periodic
brightness variation.

I previously reported that 2010-050B, the Chang'e 2 r/b, appeared to be steady.
Turns out this is not true. Yesterday I imaged it at 279 000 km distance, only a 
few hours away from its perigee, resulting in a longer trail than during earlier 
imaging sessions.

Suddenly, the trail dissolves into dots: a very rapid brightness variation.

Each 30-second exposure trail has 2-3 dots, indicating a period of ~15 seconds.
Brightness varies from invisible to mag +16.7. Positions above are for the first 
dot on each image, and the times therefore might be a few seconds off.

During earlier imaging sessions the object was at a much larger distance
(typically twice that of yesterday), resulting in shorter trails on the images.
As a result, the individual flashes merged into one single trail.

The other object, 2013-070B, the Chang'e 3 r/b, showed a clear slow brightness
variation with (like earlier sessions) a period of ~7 minutes and an amplitude
of 3 magnitudes.

Same obs as above, in MPC format:

NET UCAC-4
2010-050B     C2015 07 18.76382 02 26 01.34 +06 39 39.2          16.7 R      Q65
2010-050B     C2015 07 18.76682 02 26 09.95 +06 37 07.2          17.3 R      Q65
2010-050B     C2015 07 18.77012 02 26 19.65 +06 34 11.1          17.4 R      Q65
2010-050B     C2015 07 18.77337 02 26 28.91 +06 31 22.5          17.1 R      Q65

2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70022 00 10 50.59 -16 34 30.1          18.3 R      Q65
2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70115 00 10 50.81 -16 34 37.7          17.3 R      Q65
2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70208 00 10 50.98 -16 34 44.8          15.6 R      Q65
2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70301 00 10 51.14 -16 34 51.3          16.8 R      Q65
2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70395 00 10 51.32 -16 34 58.1          17.9 R      Q65
2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70487 00 10 51.46 -16 35 04.6          18.5 R      Q65
2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70581 00 10 51.65 -16 35 12.0          17.1 R      Q65
2013-070B     C2015 07 18.70677 00 10 51.82 -16 35 18.9          16.1 R      Q65


Updated approximate orbits:

2010-050B = Chang'e 2 booster
Perigee 2015 Jul 18.903168 TT = 21:40:33 (JD 2457222.403168)
Epoch 2015 Jul 18.0 TT = JDT 2457221.5              Find_Orb
M 347.15832              (2000.0)
n  14.21848828     Peri.  174.04751
a 364223.437 km    Node   222.84485
e   0.2235324      Incl.   40.31290
q 282807.693 km    Q 445639.181 km
P  25.32d

 From 15 observations 2015 June 15-July 18; mean residual 0".524.

Chang'e 2 rb
1 00000U          15199.00000000  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    08
2 00000  40.3115 223.0638 2287930 173.6459 347.5636  0.03899403    06


2013-070B = Chang'e 3 booster
Perigee 2015 Jul 26.203864 TT =  4:53:33 (JD 2457229.703864)
Epoch 2015 Jul 18.0 TT = JDT 2457221.5              Find_Orb
M 187.38159              (2000.0)
n  21.04110860     Peri.   37.69650
a 280473.021 km    Node   142.73740
e   0.7471244      Incl.   25.27110
q 70924.7791 km    Q 490021.264 km
P  17.11d

 From 32 observations 2015 June 26-July 18; mean residual 0".507.

Chang'e 3 rb
1 00000U          15199.00000000  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    08
2 00000  25.2694 142.9522 7459802  37.6893 187.4024  0.05825874    01


Under the influence of strong Lunar perturbations, 2010-050B's apogee and 
perigee are currently rapidly decreasing:

2010-050B  Chang'e 2 rb
----------------------------------------------------------------------
EPOCH            perigee  apogee   a       ecc        inc       period
----------------------------------------------------------------------
07.0 May 2015    352827   551615   452221  0.2197903  41.13389  35.03d
14.0 Jun 2015    310299   494264   402281  0.2286525  40.68457  29.39d
09.0 Jul 2015    291037   457018   374028  0.2218830  40.64094  26.35d
18.0 Jul 2015    282808   445639   364223  0.2235324  40.31290  25.32d
----------------------------------------------------------------------

In 72 days time, perigee has come down 70 000 km and apogee 106 000 km.

Over a longer term the orbit evolution is strongly chaotic, notably under the 
influence of close Lunar encounters.

- Marco


-----
Dr Marco Langbroek  -  SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands.
e-mail: sattrackcam_at_langbroek.org

Cospar 4353 (Leiden):   52.15412 N, 4.49081 E (WGS84), +0 m ASL
Cospar 4355 (Cronesteyn): 52.13878 N, 4.49937 E (WGS84), -2 m ASL
Station (b)log: http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com
Twitter: _at_Marco_Langbroek
-----


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Received on Sun Jul 19 2015 - 07:19:38 UTC

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