It is normal what you see. In fact the satellites will get closer. Here are the orbital elements DMSP B5C-03 1.6 1.2 0.0 7.0 d 2.0 1 07411U 74063A 01161.59828072 .00000591 00000-0 27013-3 0 669 2 07411 98.6214 7.4934 0044637 75.1775 285.4355 14.24647117391336 DMSP B5C-04 1.6 1.2 0.0 7.0 d 15 1 07816U 75043A 01151.02628564 0.00000450 00000-0 20554-3 0 03 2 07816 98.7242 358.1969 0057000 49.4757 310.5242 14.20724584 09 If you look you see that DMSP B5C-03 has a higher mean motion then the of DMSP B5C-04. Because of that one satellite will close in on the other pass it, then later catch up to it and pass it again, and so on. If the sky is dark and the sat's are close together, then if you look at them with a pair of binoculars, then you could see two sat's in the same field of view. In fact there is the following debris objects that are close to each other. You would need a scope to see them, if you could see them. They have small RCS values. Maybe someone could take a look. I don't have a scope. Info on objects from oig. IntID/Name CatNo Source period Incl Apogee Perigee RCS ------------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------- -------- 1991-068H 25998 CIS 114.9 82.7 1478 1421 0.2618 SL-14 DEB Launched (1991/09/28) 1991-068M 26002 CIS 114.9 82.7 1478 1421 0.2464 SL-14 DEB Launched (1991/09/28) 1991-068AA 26015 CIS 114.1 82.5 1466 1364 0.1082 SL-14 DEB Launched (1991/09/28) 1991-068AR 26030 CIS 114.1 82.5 1466 1364 0.1040 SL-14 DEB Launched (1991/09/28) SL-14 DEB 1 25998U 91068H 01165.95285312 +.00000026 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 01810 2 25998 082.6769 075.6279 0036447 346.1215 013.8868 12.53533579068107 SL-14 DEB 1 26002U 91068M 01166.75099054 .00000026 00000-0 10000-3 0 1632 2 26002 82.6716 75.1261 0036600 344.4351 15.5601 12.53533490 76784 SL-14 DEB 1 26015U 91068AA 01165.72907710 .00000028 00000-0 10000-3 0 1529 2 26015 82.4846 59.3436 0065081 289.5284 69.8805 12.61844214445592 SL-14 DEB 1 26030U 91068AR 01165.80836439 +.00000028 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 01580 2 26030 082.4811 059.2916 0065283 289.3768 070.0274 12.61844265444625 From: chiayk@singnet.com.sg To: SeeSat-L@blackadder.lmsal.com Subject: DMSP sats Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 10:09:48 +0800 Hi folks: Observed passage of two objects - parallel tracks - DMSP B5c-03 and DMSP B5c04 both mag +7.6. The former leads the other by 7 minutes.. Is this configuration on purpose ? (Since this is meteorogical satellites - what purpose does this serve with such another sats so close by? - I was thinking on 'footprint' on both will be similar) Thanks rgds ykChia ( call me yK ) Singapore 103.80255E, 1.445 N, +20m, +8 GMT http://www.geocities.com/ykchia_1999/index.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 15 2001 - 20:09:25 PDT