Iridum format change and consolidated reports

Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Thu, 18 Sep 1997 20:01:37

2)   Date:   May need to change to yymmdd format...with or without the "-"
If the year is increased to four digits...two more spaces are needed.

3)   Time:  UTC of course.   The date and time format may change...delete
separators possibly.  

4)   Dir:   Direction of satellite travel.  Seems that N (north)  or
S (south) are adequate but some far northern/southern observers may use
a different direction

5)   aI:    Azimuth of Iridium at max flare...measured eastward from north

6)   eI:    Elevation of max flare point..also called Altitude by some

7)   aM:    Azimuth of maximum elevation/altitude for this pass

8)   eM:    Maximum elevation/altitude

9)   aS:    Azimuth of the Sun at max flare.   It remains to be seen if this
is a valid entry (along with Sun elevation).   If it can be shown that phase
angle is the key parameter, then I would suggest replacing these values with
PM/AM so we know if it is an evening.morning pass

10)   eS:   Elevation of sun at max flare

11)  Phs:   Sun phase angle

12)  Dur:   Duration of flare in seconds.  Since it is subjective when to
start
the timing, exact values are not critical.

13)  Mag:   Magnitude of max flare.  Personally I think to whole magnitude is
good enough.  May have to if the extra digits are needed for other changes.

12)  Obs:   Observer initials.  Now two spaces to save space.

Several changes are dependent upon the maximum line length.   If the 72 space
length is not correct, I need to understand the real maximum.  Comments and
suggestions are welcome.   I put the pass directions and sun info together
to improve readability.   

Ron "Mr Iridium" Lee




  NORAD   date       time   Dir  aI eI  aM  eM  aS   eS Phs  Dur  Mag Obs
  xxxxx  dd-mm-yy  hh:mm:ss  x  xxx xx  xxx xx  xxx -xx xxx  tt  Sn.n  II

  xxxxx  21-08-97  20:27:00  S   28 30  xxx xx  324 -13 Unk  20  -1.0  BG
  xxxxx  21-08-97  20:27:20  S   33 33  xxx xx  324 -13 Unk  20  -1    BG
  24794  23-08-97  01:06.9   S   89 51   84 52  300 -15  43  xx   1    EL
  24795  23-08-97   4:19:45  S   94 52  xxx xx  299 -17 Unk   8  -4    CC
  24837  23-08-97  21:34:xx  S    E  X   76 34  321 -19 Unk   ?  -4    TC
  24792  24-08-97   4:13:45  S  100 51  xxx xx  298 -16 Unk   7  -3    CC
  24903  24-08-97  11:13:xx  N   24 17   87 42   64 -12 Unk  ~5   1    RL
  24907  25-08-97  11:03:xx  N  211 35  xxx xx  ENE  xx  41  15  -4    PM
  24906  25-08-97  11:03:xx  N  211 35  xxx xx  ENE  xx  41  15  -4    PM
  24905  25-08-97  11:03:xx  N  211 35  xxx xx  ENE  xx  41  15  -4    PM
  24904  25-08-97  11:03:xx  N  211 35  xxx xx  ENE  xx  41  15  -4    PM
  24903  25-08-97  11:03:xx  N  211 35  xxx xx  ENE  xx  41  15  -4    PM
  24904  25-08-97  12:37:xx  N  SSW 25  xxx xx   70  -9 Unk  ~8  -2    JR
  24795  26-08-97  00:57.9   S  101 61   86 62  298 -15  47  xx   1    EL
  24907  26-08-97  10:58:xx  N  214 34  xxx xx  ENE  xx  38  15  -4    PM
  24906  26-08-97  10:58:xx  N  214 34  xxx xx  ENE  xx  38  15   1    PM
  24905  26-08-97  10:58:xx  N  214 34  xxx xx  ENE  xx  38  15  -5    PM
  24904  26-08-97  10:58:xx  N  214 34  xxx xx  ENE  xx  38  15  -1    PM
  24903  26-08-97  10:58:xx  N  214 34  xxx xx  ENE  xx  38  15  -4    PM
  24907  26-08-97  12:35:xx  N  xxx xx  273 50  294 -24 Unk  10  -3    JR
  24836  26-08-97  19:58:xx  S   42 36  xxx xx  317 -12 Unk   5   3    BG
  24841  26-08-97  20:07:xx  S   43 41  xxx xx  319 -13 Unk   6  -1    BG
  24792  27-08-97  00:51.9   S  104 60   85 61  297 -14  46  xx   0    EL
  24793  27-08-97   2:26:25  S  116 50   83 53  294 -17  31   2  -1.5  SW
  24906  27-08-97  11:00:45  N   18 16   88 51   63 -15 Unk  10  -4    RL
  24907  28-08-97  10:50:xx  N  220 32  xxx xx  xxx xxx  32  xx   2.5  PM
  24906  29-08-97  10:53:57  N   15 16   89 56   62 -17 Unk  15   2    RL
  24796  31-08-97  3:04:10   S  130 54   86 63  292 -12 Unk   ?  -4    PW
  24840  31-08-97  20:24:12  S   59 43  xxx xx  313 -18 Unk  >5  -0.5  AS
  24838  05-09-97  20:22:47  S   77 46  xxx 46  xxx xxx  50  10  -5    KJ
  24839  06-09-97  19:57:17  S   69 49   79 49  307 -17 Unk  10  -2    AS
  24837  06-09-97  20:16:24  S   77 46  xxx 46  xxx xxx  49   8  -1    KJ
  24837  06-09-97  20:16     S   71 43  xxx xx  306 -18 xxx  xx   0.5  BD
  24840  07-09-97  19:51:23  S   74 49   79 49  305 -16 Unk   5  -3    AS
  24841  07-09-97  20:10     S   77 49  xxx xx  305 -18 xxx  xx   1.5  BD
  24836  10-09-97  20:03     S   86 56  xxx xx  303 -18 xxx  xx   3    BD
  24841  10-09-97  20:10     S  171 78  xxx xx  305 -19 xxx  xx   5    BD
  24837  13-09-97  19:43     S   83 66  xxx xx  298 -17 xxx  xx  -2    BD
  24840  13-09-97  19:52     S   80 66  xxx xx  300 -18 xxx  xx   4.3  BD
  24870  13-09-97  21:08:30  S   60 26  xxx xx  318 -27 xxx  xx   4.5  BD
  24946  14-09-97  12:41:30  N   18 25   89 58   74 -14 xxx  xx   3    CC
  24836  14-09-97  19:28:00  S   95 43   78 45  295 -13 146  xx   3    LB
  24836  14-09-97  19:28     S   97 45  xxx xx  295 -15 xxx  xx   2.5  BD
  24841  14-09-97  19:37:11  S  100 51   80 53  296 -15 141  xx  -3    LB
  24841  14-09-97  19:37     S   93 54  xxx xx  297 -16 xxx  xx  -6.5  BD
  24871  14-09-97  20:53     S   53 22  xxx xx  314 -26 xxx  xx   0    BD
  24946  15-09-97   4:32     N  196 38  273 77   76  -7 117  xx   2    BD
  24945  15-09-97   4:32     N  196 38  274 77   76  -7 117  xx   0    BD
  24944  15-09-97   4:32     N  196 38  274 77   76  -7 117  xx   1    BD
  24947  15-09-97  12:26:xx  N   10 20   90 67  104 -15  72   2  -3    JR
  24838  16-09-97  19:16:30  S   89 35  xxx xx  292 -14 xxx  xx   4    BD
  24839  16-09-97  19:25:20  S   96 63  xxx xx  294 -15 xxx  xx   1    BD