Optical 13 March 2009 Part 1

From: Greg Roberts (grr@telkomsa.net)
Date: Sun Mar 15 2009 - 11:49:48 UTC

  • Next message: Greg Roberts: "Optical 12/13 March 2009-part 2"

    Observations 13 March 2009 Part 1 of 2
    --------------------------------------------------
    
    Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System).
    Camera mount now carries two systems that can be operated
    together as two totally different sytems and computers used.
    Generally the DSI Pro II camera will be used for high altitude
    slow moving objects. Tests seem to indicate that its sensitivity
    is comparable to the MINTRON ( possibly better) but as its not
    possible (?) to time stamp to better than 1 second accuracy the
    time resolution is not good enough for LEO objects.
    
    
    (1)Meade DSI Pro II Monochrome CCD camera without filters.
    using integration times of 20 sec min to 60 seconds maximum
    depending on brightness of sky in particular area.No image
    processing done.No dark field applied.
    Used with 200mm focal length f/2.8 Nikkon telephoto lens,
    field of view 1.88 x 1.40 degrees. Can get to magnitude 13
    or so in less than 20 seconds exposure.
    Exposure time to nearest second inserted into image FITS header
    from PC clock which is automatically checked every minute against
    GPS signal.
    
    Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude -33.94058 deg,
    Elevation 10 metres-situated in Pinelands (Cape Town),South Africa
    
    For CLASSFD.TLE:
    -----------------------------
    33490 09 001A   0433 G 20090313190755000 56 15 1116054+045915 39  +070 05
    33490 09 001A   0433 G 20090313191232000 56 15 1120444+045543 39  +068 05
    33490 09 001A   0433 G 20090313202140000 56 15 1230007+040102 39  +075 05
    33490 09 001A   0433 G 20090313202512000 56 15 1233341+035823 39  +075 05
    33490 09 001A   0433 G 20090313205725000 56 15 1305502+033505 39  +075 05
    19976 89 035A   0433 G 20090313200201000 56 15 0949078+102034 39  +105 05
    19976 89 035A   0433 G 20090313200513000 56 15 0952268+101715 39  +105 05
    96020 96 520A   0433 G 20090313193920000 56 15 1047245+084753 39  +130 05
    96020 96 520A   0433 G 20090313194247000 56 15 1050143+084343 39  +130 05
    96055 96 555A   0433 G 20090313194331000 56 15 1033598+093050 39  +125 05
    96055 96 555A   0433 G 20090313194728000 56 15 1037491+091356 39  +125 05
    96059 96 559A   0433 G 20090313194945000 56 15 0708433+212332 39  +140 05
    96103 96 603A   0433 G 20090313203829000 56 15 1058535+061253 39  +130 05
    96103 96 603A   0433 G 20090313204226000 56 15 1102278+055128 39  +130 05
    96145 96 645A   0433 G 20090313204854000 56 15 0735361+033412 39  +130 05
    96145 96 645A   0433 G 20090313205336000 56 15 0739482+031245 39  +130 05
    25336 98 029A   0433 G 20090313174626000 56 15 0821403+132548 39  +080 05
    25336 98 029A   0433 G 20090313174808000 56 15 0823223+132441 39  +080 05
    22787 93 056A   0433 G 20090313203320000 56 15 1001110+122353 39  +095 05
    22787 93 056A   0433 G 20090313203547000 56 15 1003389+122238 39  +095 05
    27938 03 041B   0433 G 20090313202721000 56 15 0602394+010721 39  +110 05
    27938 03 041B   0433 G 20090313203118000 56 15 0606407+010921 39  +110 05
    28385 04 034B   0433 G 20090313200805000 56 15 0947441-652227 39  +080 05
    28385 04 034B   0433 G 20090313201456000 56 15 1235046-684724 39  +080 05
    33491 09 001B   0433 G 20090313195205000 56 15 0638195+074359 39  +100 05
    33491 09 001B   0433 G 20090313195416000 56 15 0640219+074305 39  +100 05
    25967 99 063A   0433 G 20090313182313000 56 15 1105047+070418 39  +105 05
    25967 99 063A   0433 G 20090313182211000 56 15 1104032+070439 39  +105 05
    25967 99 063A   0433 G 20090313183243000 56 15 1114354+070125 39  +100 05
    
    
    New unknown geostationary drifter:
    -----------------------------------------------
    
    91144 09 572A   0433 G 20090313184753000 56 15 1117315+081453 39  +110 05
    91144 09 572A   0433 G 20090313184857000 56 15 1118258+081458 39  +110 05
    
    Notes:
    -------
    (1) As a result of being unable to find USA 202 on the 12th March 2009 I
    decided I was going to find it again no matter how long it took as it was
    somewhat of an embarrasment to loose a 7th magnitude geostationary! This
    time ,instead of using the 0.9 degree field of view of the 6 inch f/2.7
    reflector, the Nikkon 200mm telephoto lens was used and a systematic
    search carried out by sweeping in azimuth at 1.5 degree steps and then
    for the next sweep increasing the elevation by 1 degree each time.
    
    (2) USA 202 located somewhat higher than predicted which indicates it had
    done an orbit change.  Ted and Mike have produced possible new elements
    and tonight - if clear - should indicate which is correct - is it still
    drifting westward at a faster rate than before or is it now in a
    zero-eccentricity constant longitude orbit - who said satellite tracking
    isnt exciting ?
    
    (3) VORTEX 6 may have also done an orbit change as it was somewhat
    further west than predicted.
    
    (4) The 200 mm telephoto lens is a bit too small for most of the 96****
    ESA objects, especially if the objects flash irregularly, so the
    positions for 96059, 96103 and 96145 may be slightly off as the end of
    the satellite trail sometimes not well defined.
    
    (5) #91144 appears to be an unknown geostationary as I cannot find a
    match for it. It appears to be drifting westward and when observed was
    moving parallel to the star trails so indicates it was near the
    northern apex of its "S" path in the sky. I expect to find it again
    tonight as this and USA 202 are the priority targets.
    
    (6) Also found another odd looking "unknown" which was somewhat out of
    focus and appeared to do a slow flare. It was moving at exactly the
    same rate eastward as the stars were moving westward and parallel to
    the stars. Had me fooled for a few minutes until I realised it was
    caused by an internal lens reflection from Saturn which was also in
    the field of view. The Nikkon lens has 18 lens components so I guess
    internal lens reflections can be expected even though its a pretty
    expensive telephoto lens!
    
    Cheers
    Greg
    
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