Hi all, The last two nights, Paul Camilleri and I have observed, from Australia and the Netherlands, an object in GTO with a marked brightness variation. We suspect it is MUOS 5. Observations and approximate elements below: 41622 16 041A 8600 G 20160703105516000 18 75 1805180-030630 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160704234042250 17 75 2255595-047130 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160704235057250 17 75 2304490-043770 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705001052250 17 75 2322196-037400 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705001302250 17 75 2324163-036690 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705003007250 17 75 2339501-031390 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705003307250 17 75 2342376-030500 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705003552250 17 75 2345117-029650 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705004022250 17 75 2349307-028280 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705004517250 17 75 2354067-026860 56 41622 16 041A 4353 F 20160705004902250 17 75 2357427-025740 56 41622 16 041A 8600 G 20160705123726000 18 75 2040343+016200 56 41622 16 041A 8600 G 20160705123800000 18 75 2041031+016430 56 41622 16 041A 8600 G 20160705123835000 18 75 2041333+016580 56 41622 16 041A 8600 G 20160705134309000 18 75 2133453+040450 56 MUOS 5? 15242 x 35703 km 1 41622U 16041A 16186.93646397 0.00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 08 2 41622 9.8319 324.4682 3211964 178.4686 182.8307 1.52727671 09 rms 0.003 from 14 observations Jul 3.46 - Jul 5.57 (arc 2.1 days) If this is MUOS 5, it is still in GTO. This means that it is still manoeuvering, so can be late and off-track with regard to the above TLE. The object shows bright very specular flashes (a few seconds duration only) to mag +8, and during the longer minima it is almost (Paul's imagery) and completely (my imagery) invisible. Flash rate is unclear, but up to two flashes in 5 minutes were observed. Paul observed it close to MUOS 1 and only a few degrees from the expected MUOS 5 checkout position (which he is diligently covering). I observed it in the same FOV as Mentor 6, low above my local southeast horizon. We believe this object to be the MUOS 5 payload (but might be wrong, so beware). The RAAN is similar to the RAAN of the initial deployment orbit derived from Paul and Kevin's observations from June 24-25: see http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2016/0121.html. The difference in RAAN of the two orbits is about ~3 degrees, which is close enough. - 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 Station (b)log: http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com Twitter: _at_Marco_Langbroek PGP key: http://tinyurl.com/kur7xm8 ----- _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Tue Jul 05 2016 - 16:30:32 UTC
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