Observations 27 Feb 2007:
-----------------------------------
Cosatrak 2 (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 150mm aperture f/5 Celestron reflector on Vixen Super
Polaris equatorial mount used in alt-azimuth configuration and fitted
with stepper motors on azimuth and elevation axis. Integrating for
96 frames which is equivalent to an exposure of 1.92 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 CLASSIFIED.TLE:
--------------------------------
90013 03 564A 0433 F 20070227184121600 56 15 0819325+125501 39 +080 05
90035 05 625A 0433 F 20070227184849100 56 15 0937427+052013 39 +120 05
90038 05 638B 0433 F 20070227185607100 56 15 1034586+042902 39 +115 05
27168 02 001A 0433 F 20070227193812000 56 15 0813360+065659 39 +087 05
90055 96 750A 0433 F 20070227194025500 56 15 0758443+105847 39 +090 05
90049 05 605C 0433 F 20070227200712900 56 15 0721332+024341 39 +115 05
90048 05 605B 0433 F 20070227202825700 56 15 0701576+094958 39 +105 05
90016 03 766A 0433 F 20070227211618400 56 15 0613412+125156 39 +095 05
90041 05 775A 0433 F 20070227213907100 56 15 0551199+191209 39 +120 05
Strays seen:
-------------
Intelsat 904 geostationary
27380 02 007A 0433 F 20070227184849100 56 15 0938179+052016 39 +120 05
Delta 1 debri
10767 76 077BQ 0433 F 20070227184849100 56 15 0937436+051432 39 +120 05
GSAT3 geostationary
28417 04 036A 0433 F 20070227190551800 56 15 1055304+050555 39 +135 05
Kalpana 1 geostationary
27525 02 043A 0433 F 20070227190551800 56 15 1055496+050740 39 +120 05
Insat 3C geostationary
27298 02 002A 0433 F 20070227190707000 56 15 1057238+050930 39 +115 05
"Old" unknown: (geostationary):
----------------------------------
91096 07 056GEO 0433 F 20070227185134500 56 15 1003059+053855 39 +115 05
New unknown - geostationary :
---------------------------------
91097 07 058GEO 0433 F 20070227190544300 56 15 1054395+051247 39 +130 05
91097 07 058GEO 0433 F 20070227190551800 56 15 1054464+051221 39 +130 05
91097 07 058GEO 0433 F 20070227190707000 56 15 1056001+050745 39 +130 05
91097 07 058GEO 0433 F 20070227215328200 56 15 1339419-035118 39 +125 05
Notes:
--------
(1) FINALLY the 6 inch reflector is ready for routine geostationary
satellite hunting. After six attempts over the past few months I
have finally got it to the stage where it is quick, easy and accurate
to use. A pipe was set up in concrete and specifically located so
that I could get maximum coverage of the Clarke belt and the telescope
sits on this. Apart from a few teething problems that are easy to fix,
the mounting sets accurate enough to locate a specific object.
(2) I "lost"a few geostationaries - ie they were observed but cannot
identify the field of view due to a teething problem - the azimuth
display was loosing counts with the result that the displayed azimuth
was incorrect. This is simple to fix .
(3) #90041 - previously a difficult customer,is now easy- magnitude
variation about +12 to +14
(4) I still want to add a video camera finder to the system so that I
can recognize star fields when I observe. Im currently using
HEAVENSAT to locate geostationaries but since it only shows stars
down to mag +12 I need a deeper display down to at least
magnitude +14 in order to identify stars in the small field of
view. With the video finder I can use the bigger field to see the
brighter stars.
(5) The new system is faster than what I previously used as I had to
sometimes do long integrations to see the fainter geostationaries.
Even when observing close to the near full moon I could see stars/
geostationaries as faint as magnitude +14. With no moon I expect to
see a further two magnitudes fainter.
(6) Overall I am now a satisifed man - Ive extended my capabilities by
several magnitudes and plan to do a lot of geostationary/high
altitude hunting as this is virtually virgin territory and Im sure
there is a lot out there.
Cheers
Greg
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive:
http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Feb 28 2007 - 07:55:56 EST