Titan #80000 AND #80001 Obs, 15 may 96

scubalee@kktv.com
Wed, 15 May 1996 05:47:38 -0500

Observed the Titan objects again on morning of 15 may 96.  

Ted:  Feel free to change my nomenclature on object numbers.
I used your numbers as a starting point.

Object #80000 I saw yesterday.  Object #80001 was reported
By Ron Coursen yesterday.  Magnitude estimates are not perfect.
Object #80000 still appeared steady and was as bright as 1 to
2 magnitude.   The second object trailing the first was initially
about 2 to 3 magnitudes fainter and did have a 6 to 10 second
amplitude variation which was subtle.   As it passed to the east,
the period was about 2 seconds and for a few seconds may have
been in the zero degree magnitude range (specular flashes?)

Positions are J2000 and in HR:MIN:SEC or DEG:MIN:SEC as
appropriate.  Positional accuracy is in the order of +/- 1 arc min
and time to +/- 0.2 second.  The last #80001 position should
be considered highly suspect (position wise) due to an
unexplained observer brain infarction.  (I messed up!).
It does seem to confirm a similar inclination to the first
object though.  ( S declinations are negative; N = positive)

   Object           TIME              RA              DEC
   80000        10:11:23.4     19:17:12       22:16:40 S
This was just east of Jupiter.

   80001         10:14:27.9     18:59:47      22:36:00 S

   80001         10:16:12.4      21:10:00     10:14:00 N

   80001         10:18:21.7      00:51:45      40:33:40 N
(this is the marginal observation.  Use with skepticism)

Using Skymap traces, Object 80000 needs to move about
0.5 degree east (may not equate to 0.5 degree RAAN shift).
It is also about 55 seconds early compared to Ted's revised
elements.

Object 80001 is about 3 minutes behind 80001 (using same local
elevation as the reference) and its path (near Jupiter) is about
2.5 degrees offset to the west (Northwest?).   This is using
local azimuth/elevation plots to measure angular differences
and may have little to do with element set angles.

My newbie question to the assembled experts here.  Assuming
that one of these objects is the payload and makes an orbit
adjust (same inclination) just after I saw it.  What can I expect
as an arrival time/position one day later?

Ron Lee
38.9478 N, 104.5614 W, 2073 meters  (UT - 6 hrs)