Satellite period from transits. As has been pointed out, determining the orbit period of a satellite from timing when it crosses the meridian (= the line South to North) is not accurate. Over 1 orbit the error is between 5 and 10%, over a day the error is about 1%. If however you time when a satellite crosses the East to West line the effect of the rotation of the earth is eliminated. The error over 1 orbit is about 1%, and 0.1% over a day. Obviously this can only be done if the inclination of the orbit is more (say at least 20 degrees) more than your latitude. Mike Waterman mike.waterman@marconi.com Site Yateley = COSPAR 2115 = 51.3286N 0.7950W 75m (reference OSGB36). ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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