At 00:23 19/03/06, you wrote: >I wrote a web page for a satellite tracking scope mount I built. I would appreciate input from members here on it, whether it's about terminology, a better way to explain it, or whatever. > >I also would like to know if this idea is new to me or if I picked it up from somewhere. > >Thanks > >http://home.insightbb.com/~dishhead/sattrak.html Darwin, The mount you have built is not new, The 3 axis mount was used for the Baker-Nunn cameras, designed in the late fifty's for the photographic satellite tracking programme of the USA for the IGY and later on. The worldwide network of these cameras was operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory ( now the Center for Astrophysics) in Cambridge Mass. The design relies on the approximation that the apparent path of a satellite in LEO is close to a great circle in the local alt-az system. The associated prediction programme ( known as SCROGE ) fitted the motion of the satelliteto a great circle path with a variable angular velocity. From memory several list members have done something similar at various times in last 10 years. Of course the apparent path of objects in highly eccentric, or distant circular (near GEO) orbits is not anything like a great circle, so you cant use the approximation. The baker-Nunn camers could switch from tracking the satellite to tracking the stars and back again if my memory isn't playing up, which was a useful facility. Tony Beresford Adelaide, South Australia ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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