Observations 16 June 2005: ------------------------------- Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System). MINTRON low light level CCD surveillance camera (0.005 lux typical in non integration mode) and 0.00005 lux in STARLIGHT mode with 128 frame integration. Used with 145mm focal length f/2.5 lens. I normally integrate for 96 frames for geostationary objects which is equivalent to an exposure of 1.92 seconds per image. Successive images are then stacked on top of one another 200 times, giving an effective total exposure of 200*1.92 seconds = 384 seconds. Stars show up as trailed objects whilst geostationary satellites appear as dots if the inclination is close to 0 degrees or else as slightly trailed objects, the length of the trail depending on the inclination and altitude. Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S, Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa 27712 03 012B 0433 G 20050616171240900 56 15 0931214+045753 39 +095 05 27168 02 001A 0433 G 20050616174235800 56 15 1130136+041619 39 +105 05 27938 03 041B 0433 G 20050616175023200 56 15 1139525+005450 39 +105 05 28385 04 034B 0433 G 20050616185059100 56 15 1455470+274927 39 +100 05 28385 04 034B 0433 G 20050616190314200 56 15 1509458+202252 39 +095 05 90003 99 503A 0433 G 20050616201641700 56 15 1803116-071331 39 +090 05 90013 03 564A 0433 G 20050616162734300 56 15 1315306+042151 39 +085 05 90016 03 766A 0433 G 20050616165327100 56 15 1057463+090955 39 +095 05 90016 03 766A 0433 G 20050616173446900 56 15 1144207+074653 39 +080 05 90016 03 766A 0433 G 20050616184220300 56 15 1300507+051909 39 +090 05 90030 05 544A 0433 G 20050616172743600 56 15 1053171+110143 39 +105 05 90031 05 546A 0433 G 20050616173043000 56 15 1612315+050538 39 +095 05 90031 05 546A 0433 G 20050616221515600 56 15 2057246+042902 39 +120 05 90033 05 558A 0433 G 20050616173446900 56 15 1141099+071355 39 +120 05 90033 05 558A 0433 G 20050616184641900 56 15 1253171+070030 39 +110 05 90033 05 558A 0433 G 20050616201457900 56 15 1419187+061607 39 +105 05 90034 05 592A 0433 G 20050616184413900 56 15 1426009+060831 39 +100 05 90034 05 592A 0433 G 20050616201252500 56 15 1554316+043606 39 +100 05 91027 05 625A 0433 G 20050616170140500 56 15 1502343+051833 39 +100 05 91027 05 625A 0433 G 20050616190446900 56 15 1705565+051624 39 +095 05 91027 05 625A 0433 G 20050616202705000 56 15 1828262+051513 39 +090 05 27380 02 007A 0433 G 20050616170140500 56 15 1502420+051554 39 +095 05 27380 02 007A 0433 G 20050616190446900 56 15 1706023+051444 39 +095 05 27380 02 007A 0433 G 20050616202705000 56 15 1828307+051422 39 +090 05 91031 05 638X 0433 G 20050616164015300 56 15 1530194+005551 39 +100 05 91031 05 638X 0433 G 20050616174653500 56 15 1637130+011259 39 +085 05 91031 05 638X 0433 G 20050616221515600 56 15 2102137+050719 39 +105 05 92032 05 638A 0433 G 20050616163334100 56 15 1516333+032532 39 +080 05 92032 05 638A 0433 G 20050616164639100 56 15 1529219+023426 39 +080 05 Notes: -------- (1) Good night - cold with good transparency- first quarter moon did not cause much of a problem. (2) Following LEO satellites seen but positions not determined: #27429 - SL-12 R/B(2) 65082D 98037B Atlas 2AS Centaur 89061D #20344 USA 40 rocket 62060B #00447 Thor Ablestar rocket (3) Commercial geostationaries not measured, except for Intelsat 904 #27380 because of its close proximity to #91027. (4) Bright meteor crossed field of view and left a smoke trail that was visible for about a minute on the monitor screen. (5) Now doing long integrations (~5 minutes) in real time.I can then quickly see if I have a geostationary in the field of view and thus can save time instead of doing a search for it which takes at least ten minutes, so I do save a bit of time as there is now no real need to repeat the whole 10 minute scan next day when I measure. (6) #90003 is a bit of a flasher with a period of approximately 20 seconds. Cannot accurately determine it because images are integrated for a minimum of 2 seconds. Cheers Greg ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jun 18 2005 - 07:53:54 EDT