In a message dated 5/14/00 9:21:39 PM EDT, g.amos@geoamo39.free-online.co.uk writes: > First time observation report using 6.25" reflector-not as wide a field > of view as I wanted-but still able to find sats using freeware > programmes-please anyone comment on accuracy to help me fine > tune methodology etc I'll observe some of the older payloads such as Telstar 1 and Tiros 1 and some of the dimmer objects such as Celestis 2 with a 6" DOB. I'll also get a longer look at Superbird A and some other geosync flashers. The haze at my location can be brutal in the summer making binocular observing impossible for all but the brightest objects. When plotting passes for telescope observing, I just tweak some of the settings on Rob Matson's Skymap program: From the Star Catalogue Menu: Star Magnitude Range = -2 to 14 From the Map Attributes Menu: Map Type = Stereographic Grid spacing - Az = 1 deg, El = 1 deg Vertical field of view = 5, 7, or 10 deg Satellite Information: Trajectory resolution = 1 sec Tick Mark resolution = 1 sec (60 for geosyncs) Time Tag resolution = 5 or 10 seconds (600 for geosyncs) Track Coords = Equatorial (A *must* for this type of obs) After you autolocate and use "Automatic Pointing" for your pass, just plot the pass and move the plot to an easy to find star near the pass and star-hop to a location in your FOV. Using a Celestron Ultima 35mm eyepiece I have a 1.4 deg FOV which seems to be more than enough for most obs. Cheers Don Gardner 39.1799 N, 76.8406 W, 100m ASL Homepage: http://hometown.aol.com/mir16609/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 15 2000 - 12:30:49 PDT