Something weird is going on with the SeeSat mailer ? Once again
I see that only the heading is sent out in the SeeSat digest yet on the
SeeSat website the complete message is there. Ive also had no
complaints from the people that I send the observations directly to
so Im at a loss what is going on ....
So herewith (again) the observations made on 07 May 2006.
Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System).
MINTRON low light level CCD surveillance camera (0.005 lux typical
in non integration mode) and 0.00005 lux in STARLIGHT mode with 128
frame integration.
Used with 145mm focal length f/2.5 lens,integrating for 64 frames
which is equivalent to an exposure of 1.28 seconds per image.
Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S,
Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
For CLASSFD.TLE:
==================
26907 01 040C 0433 F 20060507163653100 56 15 0616557+093906 39
26907 01 040C 0433 F 20060507163850500 56 15 0644436-150657 39
26907 01 040C 0433 F 20060507164253200 56 15 1153532-773959 39
26907 01 040C 0433 F 20060507164518600 56 15 1647415-665938 39
26905 01 040A 0433 F 20060507163653100 56 15 0617527+105245 39
26905 01 040A 0433 F 20060507163850500 56 15 0645443-131417 39
26905 01 040A 0433 F 20060507164253200 56 15 1133496-765211 39
26905 01 040A 0433 F 20060507164518600 56 15 1641233-672354 39
28636 05 011A 0433 F 20060507165134800 56 15 1516216-841257 39 +070 05
28636 05 011A 0433 F 20060507165312800 56 15 0839103-580031 39 +075 05
28636 05 011A 0433 F 20060507165518200 56 15 0758398+023552 39 +075 05
21147 91 017A 0433 F 20060507170712700 56 15 1754013-590210 39 +045 05
21147 91 017A 0433 F 20060507170744700 56 15 1713056-551739 39 +042 05
21147 91 017A 0433 F 20060507170759600 56 15 1656013-530627 39 +041 05
90020 04 539A 0433 F 20060507171223000 56 15 0410018-085950 39 +070 05
90020 04 539A 0433 F 20060507171807200 56 15 0403349-272846 39 +050 05
90020 04 539A 0433 F 20060507172438700 56 15 0303420-604138 39 +075 05
28637 05 011B 0433 F 20060507174209600 56 15 0355040-251418 39 +075 05
28637 05 011B 0433 F 20060507174304500 56 15 0414401-161926 39 +080 05
28637 05 011B 0433 F 20060507174343100 56 15 0425552-100557 39 +085 05
90037 05 638A 0433 F 20060507183953800 56 15 1451410+041613 39 +080 05
27938 03 041B 0433 F 20060507193536500 56 15 0742597-001230 39 +106 05
27938 03 041B 0433 F 20060507194405700 56 15 0753042+000912 39 +103 05
90035 05 625A 0433 F 20060507190947200 56 15 1432226+051707 39 +090 05
27380 02 007A 0433 F 20060507190947200 56 15 1432251+052038 39 +095 05
Strays seen:
==============
Cosmos 2088
20720 90 066A 0433 F 20060507165159600 56 15 1136027-815126 39 +065 05
Cosmos 2398 rocket
27819 03 023B 0433 F 20060507180114400 56 15 0422334-383502 39 +070 05
Iridium 23
24906 97 043D 0433 F 20060507181017200 56 15 0717515-151415 39 +075 05
Stardust Del rocket
25619 99 003B 0433 F 20060507182247300 56 15 0855163+102451 39 +050 05
Prospero
05580 71 093A 0433 F 20060507173930100 56 15 1454263-380414 39 +075 05
05580 71 093A 0433 F 20060507192143900 56 15 0616091-593648 39 +080 05
Unknown:
=========
91062 06 127LEO 0433 F 20060507181650100 56 15 0829106+002932 39 +090 05
91062 06 127LEO 0433 F 20060507181651400 56 15 0829430+002124 39 +095 05
91062 06 127LEO 0433 F 20060507181655200 56 15 0831211-000236 39 +095 05
91062 06 127LEO 0433 F 20060507181656500 56 15 0831534-001120 39 +095 05
91062 06 127LEO 0433 F 20060507181700300 56 15 0833312-003613 39 +095 05
91062 06 127LEO 0433 F 20060507181701600 56 15 0834039-004353 39 +085 05
Notes:
------
(1) Prime purpose of the session was to get requested video footage of
Prospero.
(2) Sky very bright for Noss 3-1(c) and Noss 3-1(a) - I shouldnt really
start tracking when the sun reaches 12 degrees below the horizon-
the "official" end of civil twilight as reference stars are usually
far and few between .
(3) XSS-11 nice and bright - same optical characteristics as previous
passes - bright in south on ascending pass, fades quite a lot at
high elevations and then brightens in north at low elevation as
it goes out of range. Easier to track than XSS-11 rocket.
(4) XSS-11 rocket a bit difficult- maximum elevation around 12 degrees
in west where I have the bright lights of central Cape Town.Only
occassional brief flashes seen.
(5) #90035 and Intelsat 904 (#27380) were only 3.7 arc minutes apart-
may have identity wrong way around but dont think so. #90035 is
usually brighter than Intelsat 904.
(6) Prospero ( the size of a dustbin) appears brightest when in eastern
part of sky - as would be expected from the phase angle. Brightens
a fair bit and then starts to fade before reaching culmination.
Appears reasonably steady. For the pass to the west of me the
satellite does a brief flare at low elevation in the south and
then starts to fade and becomes too faint to see before reaching
culmination.
(7) The unknown - unable to find a match in my database- Koreasat 1
rocket 2 (#23641) was predicted nearby ( not seen) but has a
slightly different track angle. This unknown is difficult and
appears to have a short variability cycle -- I dont expect to
be able to see it again so another unknown lost.
(8) Second time I have failed to see #90027 which is usually quite
bright - wonder if it has been moved again - I hate it when these
satellites are moved! - obviously its still operational.
(9) Now to measure my observations from the 8th May - Im running
late. Main thing from this session was that the IMAGE satellite
is variable with short brightish flashes and the variability
period appears to be of the order of several seconds.
I MIGHT be able to get a better estimate of the period when I
examine the recordings made but difficult when the satellite is
about mag +9 and in a crowded star field .
Cheers
Greg
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