Observing Program of the BWGS

Kurt Jonckheere (kjonckheere@unicall.be)
Sat, 10 May 1997 03:17:44 +0200

Observing Program of the BWGS
-----------------------------

The Belgian Working Group Satellites has been active in collecting flash
period measurements since 1987. Our priority list contains over 300
satellites. 

New in the E-mail archive : Overview of BWGS program (including recent 
observations)

Send a message with Subject: archive get program/program.*
  to SeeSat-L-request@cds.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de
Send a message with Subject: archive get program/satapr97.txt
  to the same address, to get accompanying notes by Kurt Jonckheere (Satorama).
Send a message with Subject: archive get ppas/ppas6-12.obs
  to the same address for the latest update to PPAS 6, which contains all 
  new PPAS-observations.
To receive all PPAS6 upgrades :
  Send a message with Subject: archive get ppas/ppas6-*

This is the last update to the PPAS6.  Within some days, the PPAS7 will
become available.

SATORAMA

Our observing programme can be found in the Program.rob file.
It is subdivided in categories, the codes of which can be found below.

b       flashing object for beginners
d       difficult to measure
S       steady object, potentially flashing in the future
?       flash period is unknown or uncertain
-       long flash period (>40 s)
!       top-priority object
	regular object
x       DRA object

Special remarks

New objects :

Some time ago, Paul Maley pointed his telescope to a number of Ariane
rockets and derived flashing periods from the light curves of them.
Most of these objects were never observed before, which explaines
the following long list of new objects:

60-  9 B d     50/Delta 1 R/B, NEW, discovered by Vince Gardiner, faint
65-109 F d     NEW, discovered by LB, secundary maxima
79- 87 C       17939/SL-12 R/B, NEW, geosat. discovered by Jay Respler
88-109 C       19689,Ariane 44LP R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
89- 62 C d     20170/Ariane 44LP R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
89- 87 B d     20316/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
90- 63 C d     20717/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
90- 91 C d     20874/Ariane 44L deb, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
90-100 C d     20947/Ariane 42P R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
91- 15 C -     21141/Ariane 44LP R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
91- 26 B d     21223/Ariane 44LP R/B, NEW rediscovered by Paul Maley, GTO
91- 55 B d     21654/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
91- 67 B d     21727/Ariane 44P R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
92- 41 C d     22032/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
92- 84 B d     22254/Ariane 42P R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
93- 48 C d     22725/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
93- 61 A b     22823/SPOT 3, secundary maxima!, bright flasher, NEW
93- 73 C d     22913/Ariane 44LP R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
94- 38 E       23172/SL-12 R/B (AUX MOTOR)NEW, discovered by Jay Respler, GTO
94- 49 C d     23201/Ariane R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
95-  2 A       23463/Tsikada, NEW, discovered by Eero Rantalaiho
95- 29 B d     23599/Ariane 42 P R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
95- 40 B d     23637/Ariane 42L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
95- 55 B d     23687/Ariane 42L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
95- 67 B d     237/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96-  2 C d     23766/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96-  7 B d     23782/Ariane 44P R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96- 15 B d     23817/Ariane 44P R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96- 22 B d     23847/Ariane 42P R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96- 30 C d     23866/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96- 44 C d     24210/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96- 63 C d     24654/Ariane 44L R/B, NEW discovered by Paul Maley, GTO
96- 72 A       USA 129/NEW
97-  6 D       24728/C 2337, NEW, variable according to Leo Barhorst
97-  6 E       24729/C 2338, NEW, variable according to Leo Barhorst
97- 10 B       24745/post boot stage NEW, flashing with 17 seconds (LB)
97- 17 B b     24773/C 2341 R, NEW, nicely flashing according to Leo Barhorst

Top-priority objects :

84- 56 B !     15032/C1 Kosmos 1570: accelerated according to Leo
85- 94 G !     16144/F2 Tsyklon K1690-1695, accelerated ?
87-  6 B !     17304/C1 K1814; MMJUMP !?
87- 49 B !     18096/C1 Kosmos 1850: accelerating again !
87- 60 A !     18187/Cosmos 1867; still accelerating
87- 74 G !     18340/F2 Tsyklon Kosmos 1875-1880: acceleration halted ?
88- 53 B !     19257/C1 Kosmos 1954: still accelerating
92- 20 B !     21938/C1 Kosmos 2184: period going down ?, MMjump in Mar 97
93- 15 B !     22564/Centaur UHF1: GTO, flashing, period going down ?
93- 70 B !     22889/C1 Kosmos 2266: MMjump, also accelerated ?
94- 41 B !x    23180/C1 Nadezhda 4: going down ?
96-  4 B !     23774/C1 K2327: Accelerated during Jan 97 !


734 observations received from :
 ANO:   Antero Olkkonen, Ristuna, Finland
 BD:    Bram Dorreman, Achel, Belgium
 ER:    Eero Rantalaiho, Virkkala, Finland
 JHR:   Jay Respler, Freehold, NJ, USA
 JVS:   Jan Vansteelandt, Leuven, Belgium
 KJ:    Kurt Jonckheere, Antwerp, Belgium
 LW:    Leo Wikholm, Helsinki, Finland
 LB:    Leo Barhorst, Alkmaar, The Netherlands
 PM:    Paul Maley, Houston TX, USA
 RE:    Russell Eberst, Edinburgh, Scotland
 TC:    Tristan Cools, Brugge, Belgium
 RGL:   Ron Lee, USA
 VAG:   Vince Gardiner, Coffs Harbour, Australia


Next deadline for sending in observations: June 10, 1997 to Kurt Jonckheere
Sanderusstraat 15, bus 3, B-2018 Antwerpen, Belgium
or by e-mail to ppas@cds.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de

All observations are appreciated very much.

If you send your observations to Seesat-L, please also send them
DIRECTLY to ppas@cds.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de.  This is just a
small amount of additional work for you, but it makes live much easier
for me.

Happy observing,

Kurt Jonckheere (kjonckheere@unicall.be)
Observations collector of the Belgian Working Group Satellites