Observations 18 June 2003:
----------------------------------
Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System), 1004x low
light level CCD surveillance camera (0.003 lux) with 145mm focal
length f/2.5 lens with focal length reducer, field of view
1.89 x 1.43 degrees.
Conditions fair - transparency did not look that great.
Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S,
Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
10529 77 112D 0433 F 20030618193319100 17 15 1146250+014905 39 I+096 05
10529 77 112D 0433 F 20030618193336000 17 15 1148422-001932 39 I+093 05
10529 77 112D 0433 F 20030618193410900 17 15 1153355-050408 39 I+093 05
10502 77 112A 0433 F 20030618193500400 17 15 1150235-022614 39 I+097 05
10502 77 112A 0433 F 20030618193517500 17 15 1152455-045056 39 I+097 05
25725 99 023B 0433 F 20030618194038200 17 15 1013207-050714 39 I+070 05
25725 99 023B 0433 F 20030618194400200 17 15 1136204+003453 39 I+087 05
07816 75 043A 0433 F 20030618162036100 17 15 1654323-254848 39 I+065 05
07816 75 043A 0433 F 20030618162141200 17 15 1729149-381435 39 I+068 05
07816 75 043A 0433 F 20030618162326600 17 15 1854589-532613 39 I+079 05
11731 80 019C 0433 F 20030618162641700 17 15 0546230-555613 39 I+084 05
23031 94 017B 0433 F 20030618163002700 17 15 1936381-533012 39 +080 05
11389 79 050A 0433 F 20030618163617800 17 15 1404308+113831 39 R+056 05
11389 79 050A 0433 F 20030618163634100 17 15 1356041+153845 39 R+068 05
11389 79 050A 0433 F 20030618163705300 17 15 1341129+223027 39 R+071 05
10544 77 112E 0433 F 20030618201350100 17 15 1102569-013344 39 S+087 05
10544 77 112E 0433 F 20030618201417700 17 15 1104110-042651 39 S+087 05
11745 80 019G 0433 F 20030618164404800 17 15 0808589-043408 39 I+093 05
22638 93 026A 0433 F 20030618172103700 17 15 1342277-023138 39 I+080 05
22638 93 026A 0433 F 20030618172134700 17 15 1410319-141453 39 I+076 05
22638 93 026A 0433 F 20030618172204700 17 15 1442451-254613 39 I+072 05
22638 93 026A 0433 F 20030618172243300 17 15 1532140-384127 39 I+076 05
13844 83 008E 0433 F 20030618172823600 17 15 0719346-341511 39 I+083 05
13844 83 008E 0433 F 20030618172921500 17 15 0815206-245835 39 I+067 05
13844 83 008E 0433 F 20030618173001000 17 15 0854577-154646 39 I+071 05
25724 99 023A 0433 F 20030618203835900 17 15 1148416-142040 39 I+076 05
25724 99 023A 0433 F 20030618204159500 17 15 1226329-134815 39 I+064 05
25724 99 023A 0433 F 20030618204443500 17 15 1257393-125000 39 I+075 05
Notes:
(1) The ccd camera is now fitted with an infra-red cutoff filter. This
results in smaller and sharper stellar/satellite images but the down
side is that I have lost some sensitivity as the camera is more
sensitive in the near infra red. I appear to have lost about 0.4 to
0.5 magnitudes but some of this could be due to the transparency.
The camera has also been modified and has a gain boost of about 8 to
9 dB which means a higher noise level but now the ccd chip is
operating at maximum sensitivity.
(2) An orbital plane scan was done for USA89 rocket starting 8 minutes
early till 11 minutes after predicted time. Nil was seen but this
could be due to the satellite being too faint at the time?
(3) With the current focal length it is obvious that a time resolution
of only 0.1 seconds is insufficient as a satellite moves an
appreciable distance in 0.1 seconds with a narrow field of view. I
could go to 0.03 seconds accuracy but this means extra work when
measuring the images - would the effort be justified ?
(4) I did predict ykchia's mysterious object but found that I was unable
to observe it because of trees. I see that the satellite has now
been identfied as a "hot" pixel in the ccd camera used. I was caught
like this some time ago when I discovered 5 geostationary satellite
trails in an integrated exposure of which I could only identify 2 -
fortunately I realised it was due to hot pixels before making the
discovery public.
(5) Due to pressure of time I still have the following to measure and
report:
Milstar 3 Centaur rocket
DMSP B5D2-8
DMSP B5D2-7
USA 40 rocket
NOSS 2 (D)
NOSS 2 (A)
Milstar 3
DMSP B5C-04
DMSP B5D2-8
Unknown 90013
DMSP B5D2-7
(If observations of some of these objects appear in those reported
today it was because there was more than one transit observed)
Cheers
Greg
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jun 19 2003 - 13:13:01 EDT