Hi all.... I have now put together a couple of videos from last nights sortie to find and nail W3. http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/satcom_transits/2F3a.gif Is a 1.2 mb video ,showing Eutelsat 2F3 EUTELSAT 2-F3 1 21803U 91083A 04326.94132405 .00000135 00000-0 10000-3 0 7663 2 21803 4.2063 82.0539 0003287 160.0853 180.0103 1.00278406 43436 as it climbs towards the arc. The movie is made up of 10 second exposures , about a minute apart (the streaks are star trails ) .....so you can see how fast , and how far the satellite travels in just 8 minutes ! From east to west the field of view is about three quarters of a degree. If this was a stable bird , there would be no visible movement at all during this short period. This is the heavilly inclined satellite which was at 21.5 east , but has now drfited towards 22 east. The video gives a good indication just why it has become necessary to replace the spacecraft http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/satcom_transits/2F3W3.gif Shows the target satellite W3 , rock steady and quite bright , on the arc at 21.5 east ( Yes ....NORAD still place it at 48 east) W3 is the bird to the right of frame , 2F3 centre , very faint ( magnitude 14 ? ) and moving towards the top left corner ( east) I needed to catch both satellites in fame to prove that W3 was in position. The relative speed of 2F3 is quite impressive. I would have liked to have captured more frames , but the Moon was by this time very near by...and very bright , but at least we now have the pictures to back up the theory that W3 is on station......and not thousands of miles to the east. Regards, John ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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