Observations 03 Dec 2008 ---------------------------- Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System). Camera mount now carries two systems that can be operated together as two totally different sytems and computers used. Generally the DSI Pro II camera will be used for high altitude slow moving objects. Tests seem to indicate that its sesnitivity is comparable to the MINTRON ( possibly better) but as its not possible (?) to time stamp to better than 1 second accuracy the time resolution is not good enough for LEO objects. (1) 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 50mm focal length f/1.8 lens,integrating for 128 fields which is equivalent to a max exposure of 2.56 seconds maximum per image. Field of view 6.8 x 5.4 degrees. Individual frames are video time stamped with GPS derived signal. (2)Meade DSI Pro II Monochrome CCD camera without filters. using integration times of 20 sec min to 60 seconds maximum depending on brightness of sky in particular area.No image processing done but dark field applied. Used with 200mm focal length f/2.8 Nikkon telephoto lens, field of view 1.88 x 1.40 degrees. Can get to magnitude 13 or so in less than 20 seconds exposure. Exposure time to nearest second inserted into image FITS header from PC clock which is automatically checked every minute against GPS signal. Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S, Elevation 10 metres-situated in Pinelands (Cape Town),South Africa UNKNOWN: -------- 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203202931000 56 15 0209196+074907 39 +100 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203203158000 56 15 0211299+075403 39 +100 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203203311000 56 15 0212335+075622 39 +095 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203203716000 56 15 0216144+080415 39 +095 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203204234000 56 15 0220585+081413 39 +095 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203204941000 56 15 0227209+082741 39 +095 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203212957000 56 15 0303397+094322 39 +095 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203213226000 56 15 0305557+094727 39 +095 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203221631000 56 15 0346199+110204 39 +090 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203221858000 56 15 0348353+110533 39 +090 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203225755000 56 15 0424569+120325 39 +090 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203230106000 56 15 0428009+120739 39 +090 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203233047000 56 15 0456127+124428 39 +085 05 91128 08 838GEO 0433 G 20081203233417000 56 15 0459347+124830 39 +085 05 Notes: ------- (1) Bright unknown found whilst observing DSP-F23. Appeared steady entire arc tracked. This is one of the brightest unknowns Ive found in recent times so I will make a special effort to try and find it again - would be nice if its our missing MERCURY-2 (aka 90016)? (2) LOTS more to measure - will take me about two days to do it all.... Cheers Greg ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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