Re: DCB Obs MAR 12th UT - NOSS 3-6 P&A / OTV3 / 2 UNID

From: C. Bassa (cgbsat@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Mar 12 2013 - 21:24:00 UTC

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    Hi Derek,
    
    Scott Campbell has a handy program to fit orbits to observations:
    http://satelliteorbitdetermination.com/SATFIT.htm This can be used to
    get estimates for the orbital elements which can give you an idea of
    what it was you saw.
    
    On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 5:43 PM, Derek C Breit
    <breit_ideas@poyntsource.com> wrote:
    > 99999 99 999J   8739 G 20130312030544361 26 25 0935553+431012 37
    > 99999 99 999J   8739 G 20130312030548365 26 25 0934127+443731 37
    
    Fitting a circular orbit to these points suggest a retrograde orbit
    with an inclination of 120 degrees. The only classified objects we
    know that have similar inclinations are the FIA Radars, both of which
    have accurate elements and are no where near these observations. Not
    sure what this may be.
    
    > 99998 99 999H   8739 G 20130312032703087 26 25 0716653-284199 37
    > 99998 99 999H   8739 G 20130312032712663 26 25 0659713-294583 37
    
    This is another retrograde orbit, now with an inclination near 142.5
    degrees. This matches the Israeli Ofeq satellites. My guess is that it
    is Ofeq 5 [27434/02025A], last seen 720 days ago, though it could also
    be Ofeq 7 [31601/07025A]. Ted and Mike are more suited to confirm
    this.
    
    Great to see the extra sensitivity of recording to disk is giving
    interesting results!
    
    Regards,
        Cees
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