Observations 15 JAN 2013 ------------------------------------ Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System). FLI ML8300M CCD camera with mechanical shutter + Trimble GPS Used with 135mm focal length f/2.8 TAMRON lens. Field of view 7.6 x 5.7 degrees. Images processed and measured manually. Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude -33.94058 deg, Elevation 10 metres-situated in Pinelands (Cape Town),South Africa FOR CLASSFD.TLE: ---------------------------- 08836 76 038D 0433 G 20130115184310571 55 15 0511287-172412 19 08836 76 038D 0433 G 20130115184500160 55 15 0542219+032545 19 08836 76 038D 0433 G 20130115184702283 55 15 0608508+195038 19 16631 86 014H 0433 G 20130115195037755 55 15 2236599-335731 19 16631 86 014H 0433 G 20130115195357603 55 15 0057056-040129 19 16631 86 014H 0433 G 20130115195656942 55 15 0301050+350014 19 19460 88 078A 0433 G 20130115191847119 55 15 1231507-615511 19 19460 88 078A 0433 G 20130115192111309 55 15 0934008-445043 19 19460 88 078A 0433 G 20130115192328593 55 15 0803401-060357 19 23947 96 038C 0433 G 20130115211810721 55 15 0623364-634151 19 23947 96 038C 0433 G 20130115212454497 55 15 0701256-623601 19 24680 96 072A 0433 G 20130115202800888 55 15 2020548-731049 19 24680 96 072A 0433 G 20130115202848142 55 15 2312518-681353 19 24680 96 072A 0433 G 20130115202942867 55 15 0112175-443249 19 26473 96 072A 0433 G 20130115185249461 55 15 2152047-195039 19 26473 96 072A 0433 G 20130115185331319 55 15 2216402-140207 19 26473 96 072A 0433 G 20130115185419812 55 15 2245360-055808 19 28888 05 042A 0433 G 20130115201514214 55 15 1253169-531456 19 28888 05 042A 0433 G 20130115201556249 55 15 1207095-515544 19 28888 05 042A 0433 G 20130115201733008 55 15 1005225-391255 19 STRAYS SEEN ---------------- 05117 71 028A 0433 G 20130115192111309 55 15 0947079-462955 19 28939 06 005A 0433 G 20130115191724629 55 15 1306580-632218 19 NOTES: ---------- (1) Whilst slewing mount to a new position had a bright westward fast moving satellite - suspect it was OFEQ 7 running about one orbit and 16 minutes early on last element set 11217. Was moving too fast for the mount to catch up with it and get a position. (2) North Korean satellite KMS 3-2 becoming increasingly difficult to track. The spin rate is decreasing so magnitude variation not so pronounced and seems to be far less bright flashes. Despite a 53 degree elevation pass to the east it was mostly invisible, perhaps reaching mag +9 for a few seconds shortly before shadow entry. (3) Despite hunting for VOTEX 6 #19976 for three nights now I have been unable to find this relatively bright high altitude satellite. For the past six years or so it had a predictable behaviour. The mean montion would slowly increase from a minimum value of about 1.0022 revs/day to about 1.0032 revs/day after which it would do a boost to restore period back to about 1.0022. However the behaviour seems to have changed recently and the mean motion increased to the highest value I have ever seen - nearly 1.0034 revs/day around 2012 year day 350 when last observed. I have searched for it since using mean motions ranging from 1.0020 to 1.0030 and found nothing, so either Im doing something wrong or the satellite has changed its behaviour of the past six years. Maybe it has been finally sent to a graveyard orbit as it is a fairly old satellite (1985), so unless its accidentally found again it looks like it is now lost to amateurs. But maybe I did something wrong - nothings impossible with me! Hopefully ISON have not lost track of it so we can resume tracking it in about a months time. Another one currently missing is WGS F3 - looks like NRO have been pretty busy recently moving some satellites about! Cheers Greg _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Jan 16 2013 - 12:04:59 UTC