>Would this appear to move very slowly or would the exhaust >cloud zip across the sky in a few minutes? The GPS payload before the circularization burn is in a 6 hour eccentric orbit with an apogee at the correct height (12600 miles). At that height (on a north to south equator crossing in this case) the circularization burn puts the payload into a 12 hour circular orbit at 12600 miles. So the burn takes place at that height with the rocket engine pointing "north" to increase the speed and change the inclination. The payload and the rocket plume move very slowly at 12600 miles. >was a barium cloud formation to the Southwest of our position. It began at >2230 UT, on a bearing to the southwest that, from our posit (3155N/03306W) A 6 hour elset for the payload indicates a north to south equator crossing on Nov. 19 at 22:00 UT over latitude 0, longitude 76 west. But the height is still a little below apogee at that point. At 22:30, the height is correct, the latitude is 7 degrees south and the longitude is still 76 degrees west. Mike McCants ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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