Hi All I dont know how many would be interested in my posting observations made with my computerised satellite tracking system ( for further details see http://canopus.saao.ac.za/~wpk/CoSaTrak/cosatrak.html) but some of the information might be of interest to some people. The system is still under development so no serious work has been done yet. The system consists of 2 low light level surveillance cameras ( 0.05 and 0.01 lux) and used in conjunction with various telephoto lenses - currently a 25mm focal length f/1.4 lens ( reaching down to about magnitude +7.2 ) and a 135mm f/3.5 lens that can record satellites as faint as about magnitude +8.5. The system is computer controlled and the observer ( ie me ) sits in front of several monitor screens and can switch cameras and record the data on video tape along with audible time signals. The system has great potential for photometric satellite work as well as positional work. In some cases the satellite may be too faint to be visually seen when it enters the field of view in which case one jumps to the next predicted position and starts the AUTOTRACK mode in which case the system tracks on the predictions and one is then usually able to see the fainter satellites that may be flashing or varying slowly. One is able to track the satellite for as long as the satellite is above a prescribed elevation - I usually set the lower limit at 25 degrees because of surrounding trees/houses etc, so tracks are sometimes several minutes long ( depending on how pressed I am for time for the next satellite). Consequently one is able to detect flares and other exciting things the satellite may do - it also vividly demonstrates the effect of phase angle on appearance/brightness. If there is no response to this posting - other than complaining about the length of the posting - I will assume there is no interest in the listing :-) I will post the item as a seperate item Best wishes Greg Roberts Long 18.512944 east Lat 33.940583 South (GPS) elevation 10 metres ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Nov 02 2000 - 01:01:51 PST