Re: intro

Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Mon, 9 Jun 1997 22:19:00 -0600 (MDT)

       Now I just had a couple of questions.  Are all the epoch times for
>the satellites according to the atomic clock?  I have read that there are
>radio stations that transmit this time.  How do you know precisely what time
>it is so that you can tell exactly when the satellites are going to pass?
>
>Thanks,
>Andre "Muad'Dib" Beckus
>amuaddib@niven.imsweb.net
>

Most observations and element sets are based upon Universal Time (the time in
the center of humanity as we know it...Greenwich England).  Most satellite 
tracking programs can display results in Universal time or your local time.

You can set your watch to UT by listening to WWV at 5, 10, 15  and 20 MHz.

You can also set your watch to most major news programs and hourly newscasts
since they almost always start on the hour (probably to within a second) which
is more than adequate for most observations.

If you what to observe satellite and have WWW access, look at this site for 
software and element sets (elsets).

http://sat.physics.ox.ac.uk/sat/satintro.html

Ron Lee