Obs 01 March 2005 Part 1

From: Greg Roberts (grr@iafrica.com)
Date: Wed Mar 02 2005 - 11:56:03 EST

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    Observations 01 March 2005  Part 1
    ---------------------------------------------
    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. Due to bright sky it is not worthwhile integrating
    more than 48 frames which is equivalent to an exposure of 0.96 seconds.
    
    Used with 145mm focal length f/2.5 lens giving a field of view of
    about 2.55 x 1.86 degrees and easily showing 12th magnitude stars.
    Not the best lens optically but the most useful in terms of field
    of view and magnitude penetration.
    
    Data recorded on DVD R/W disks - will be kept for 1 month and then
    re-used - just in case any queries as Im always making mistakes!
    
    Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude  33.94058 deg S,
    Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
    
    
    
    28538 05 004B   0433 G 20050301175235000 17 15 0220539-275759 39
    28538 05 004B   0433 G 20050301175305200 17 15 0245292-222802 39
    28538 05 004B   0433 G 20050301175407600 17 15 0331418-093630 39
    28538 05 004B   0433 G 20050301175507700 17 15 0410014+030142 39
    28538 05 004B   0433 G 20050301175620100 17 15 0448431+161939 39
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20050301205834100 17 15 1944073-703935 39
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20050301205908700 17 15 1944464-741743 39
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20050301205940400 17 15 1946147-780522 39
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20050301210010100 17 15 1951286-820850 39
    90013 03 564A   0433 G 20050301222736100 17 15 1214172+062506 39
    23712 95 060A   0433 G 20050301224252800 17 15 0956397+095927 39  +105 05
    23712 95 060A   0433 G 20050301224424000 17 15 0958142+100010 39  +105 05
    27168 02 001A   0433 G 20050301201243000 17 15 0658598+064255 39
    90020 90 020A   0433 G 20050301203023500 17 15 1028449-134041 39
    90020 90 020A   0433 G 20050301203226400 17 15 1101496-220842 39
    90020 90 020A   0433 G 20050301203358600 17 15 1133546-285157 39
    90020 90 020A   0433 G 20050301203524000 17 15 1210291-345318 39
    
    Strays:
    --------
    19649 88 102A   0433 G 20050301190824400 17 15 2009139-730645 39  +050 05
    25872 99 041A   0433 G 20050301191044800 17 15 1856406-800225 39
    01001 65 008A   0433 G 20050301204919200 17 15 0724062+145511 39
    26476 00 048B   0433 G 20050301213834800 17 15 0600583+062929 39 S+100 05
    
    High altitude unknowns:
    ------------------------
    99999 00 000X   0433 G 20050301221827000 17 15 1155125+093222 39
    99999 00 000X   0433 G 20050301221924500 17 15 1156058+092827 39
    99999 00 000X   0433 G 20050301221946600 17 15 1156263+092651 39
    99999 00 000X   0433 G 20050301222024100 17 15 1157052+092407 39
    
    99998 00 000Y   0433 G 20050301221720000 17 15 1155501+091901 39
    99998 00 000Y   0433 G 20050301221835600 17 15 1157026+091300 39
    99998 00 000Y   0433 G 20050301221950900 17 15 1158154+090807 39
    
    Notes:
    -------
    (1) Main purpose of observing was to continue geosat survey - a much
        bigger task than I originally anticipated! - I have 5 hours of DVD
        recordings from last night to go through still so will hopefully report the
        rest  tomorrow.
    
    (2) #28538 Noss 3-3r observed in very bright twilight conditions. Sorry
        Ted, the other NOSS 3-3 objects did not make observable passes.
    
    (3) I think I have "recovered" #23712 MILSTAR DFS2 which hasnt been
        observed for a while. I did a "box" search around the predicted
        location and found it about 48 arc minutes "off predicted position".
    
    (4) #90020 really an impressive flasher, flashing for most of the 5
        minutes I tracked it with a good percentage of the flashes being
        naked eye.
    
    (5) Strays observed by accident :
    
        #19649 Cosmos 1980
        #25872 Globalstar MO48
        #01001 Titan 3A (Truss) - nice and variable
        #26476 Delta 3 R/B at 13307 kms, orbit 190 x 19936 kms, i = 27.39,
               P = 349.6 mins.
        probably more to come as Im only halfway through the DVD recordings.
    
    (6) Unknowns called 99999 and 99998 - these are high altitude - I suspect
        at around 37000 kms and in the short period tracked appeared to be
        related - both travelling the same direction and speed and close
        together. The first object appeared to have irregular flashing - the
        positions are when it flashed, whilst the second one flashed approx
        every 75 seconds or so. The second one was brighter, flashing to about
        mag 10 whilst the other one was about magnitude +10.5 - both invisible
        when not flashing. I dont find a match for these objects in my elements
        data.
    
    Cheers
    Greg 
    
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