the time stamp on my pc is at the end of the image capture.
the time on the PC was 6 minutes slow
so the image began at 03:45 UTC monday March 14 and ended at 03:50 UTC
Monday March 14
here's the latitude/longitude of my observing location
Lat: 37.718537 37:43:6.733N
Lon: -122.066474 122:03:59.306W
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matson, Robert" <ROBERT.D.MATSON@saic.com>
To: <b_gimle@algonet.se>; <rdcrisp@earthlink.net>
Cc: <bjorn.gimle@tietoenator.com>; "'Seesat-L'" <SeeSat-L@satobs.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 2:49 PM
Subject: Richard's mystery GEO satellite near Cone Nebula
>> Though Rob is an expert I tend to disagree.
>
> Bjorn is being kind here -- I'm definitely out of practice! ;-)
>
>> My image shows the track of 76-4A inclined 3.9 degrees to the
>> declination grid (+10 runs just below the glint) The scale
>> of UNID_314.gif overlaid on iridium_flare_xga_ov.gif is 1.96
>> degrees (118') over the 805 pixel vertical.
>
> I didn't bother to rotate images and do a slope comparison since
> I thought the match looked reasonably close in time, location and
> slope. However, now that I've done so I see that Bjorn is right --
> the inclination is off by a couple degrees. While this doesn't
> seem like a lot, it is enough to rule out 76-4A as a match.
>
> Symphonie 2 was on a parallel track, so it's not a good
> match for the same reasons.
>
> Ekran 8 and OPS 9442 were closer to the correct location in
> cross track (and on more nearly east-west trajectories), but
> their intrack positions are poor and the slopes are actually
> too far the other way (too horizontal).
>
> Nearby Kiku 2 (ETS 2) looks to be close to the correct slope, but
> shifted well to the east. Bottom line is that none of these
> is a solid match.
>
> Two possibilities to consider:
>
> Are the observer coordinates correct and/or can they be provided
> to greater accuracy?
>
> Are the reported UTC date and time absolutely certain?
>
> Finally, answering Richard's questions:
>
> "So Bjorn, you say it is 76-4A? And Rob, you say it is #8585 right?"
>
> No, #8585 is the same as 76-4A. Bjorn didn't identify an alternate
> candidate (nor can I). It remains an unknown unless the location, date
> or time were in error.
>
>> We are all pretty sure it is a LEO because of the EW travel, right?
>
> No -- I'm very confident that it is a *GEO* because of the EW travel.
> Could be a glint from a small piece of debris near GEO that isn't in
> the catalog. By measuring the RA/Dec of two positions in the track
> and assuming a GEO orbit, I bet Ted Molczan could generate you a
> search orbit. But you'd need to reacquire it soon in order not to
> lose it. If successful, it might very well be the dimmest object
> ever discovered by an amateur! --Rob
>
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