Re: ISS Lunar Transit Recorded from Livermore, CA

From: Edward M. (EdMor@pacbell.net)
Date: Sat Jan 31 2004 - 21:58:17 EST

  • Next message: paul: "obs 01feb 04032 8305"

    The TLE I used is the one from the NASA spaceflight website which I got
    about 2 hours before event time:
    
    ISS
    1 25544U 98067A   04030.38641742   .0002000  00000-0  20000-3 0  9012
    2 25544  51.6275 312.2703 0007708 107.1260 253.0743 15.66615930 16547
    
    I went with your suggestion of never using a "future" TLE, and went with the
    one closest to event time, but not after.
    
    Interestingly enough, there was a TLE from heaven's above which was even
    closer to event time.  The ISS path from this TLE was not as accurate as the
    one from NASA (although the time of the transit was closer -- 21:43:40.7 vs
    21:43:40.2 -- My estimate based on WWV was that the transit occurred very
    close to 21:43:40.7):
    
    ISS_HA
    1 25544U 98067A   04030.84074947  .00015969  00000-0  15407-3 0  1037
    2 25544  51.6300 309.9574 0007833 109.2562 295.0015 15.66638907296617
    
    Since I pretty much could pick my location, I selected the observing site
    based on the path the ISS would take over the lunar surface.  I selected a
    point on the moon which would be easy to find (Low in the south where the
    terminator ends).  If I had done some more research on the lunar surface, a
    better choice would probably have been to try for a spot which would put the
    path near the north terminator -- or even one which didn't include the
    terminator at all.  It would have been a little longer of drive, but I would
    have ended up with an image where the ISS detail would be easier to see.
    Sky map pro doesn't show lunar features, so I'll have to use a moon map.
    I'll remember this for the next time.
    
    One other thing ... the next time might be on Monday!  It would be a drive
    of about 60+ miles for me (to Sacramento), but might be worth it --- an ISS
    range of only 246 miles.  If I can get off work early, I might go for it.
    
    > Thomas Fly <tfly@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
    
    > Despite the lower amount of ISS structural detail, compared to your
    November 8
    > transit, the rugged lunar landscape in the background makes this one
    rather
    > nice!
    
    > SkyMapPro's plot appears to be dead-on; what TLE did you use to make it?
    
    
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