Obs 20/21 Nov Tape 2

From: Greg Roberts (grr@iafrica.com)
Date: Thu Nov 21 2002 - 08:33:54 EST

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    Observations made 20/21 Nov 2002  Tape 2
    ----------------------------------------
    
    CoSaTrak 1, 85mm f/1.6 lens with 0.003 lux CCD surveillance camera.
    Conditions - bad - full moon present, lot of thin cirrus.
    Seeing good however.
    
    Cospar Site #0433  Long 18.5129 E, Lat 33.9406 S, altitude 10 metres
    
    22519 92 086C   0433 B 20021120215233300 17 15 0657027-080910 39 S+077 05
    22519 92 086C   0433 B 20021120215153000 17 15 0642588-054328 39 S+076 05
    22519 92 086C   0433 B 20021120215300700 17 15 0706400-094732 39 S+077 05
    05679 71 110B   0433 B 20021120221448500 17 15 0955340-771716 39 S+071 05
    05679 71 110B   0433 B 20021120221524500 17 15 0835346-704139 39 S+069 05
    05679 71 110B   0433 B 20021120221548600 17 15 0805527-645414 39 S+068 05
    25615 98 055C   0433 B 20021120222318800 17 15 1829019-783631 39 S+080 05
    25725 99 023B   0433 B 20021120222812100 17 15 0044314-122401 39 R+056 05
    25725 99 023B   0433 B 20021120222949100 17 15 0116041-121040 39 R+055 05
    14112 83 056A   0433 B 20021120235416200 17 15 0138440-380326 39 S+086 05
    19460 88 078A   0433 B 20021120233714900 17 15 2158495-601114 39 R+062 05
    19460 88 078A   0433 B 20021120233730100 17 15 2221040-585909 39 R+060 05
    16624 86 014E   0433 B 20021121000836000 17 15 0652176-320750 39 S+079 05
    16624 86 014E   0433 B 20021121000853700 17 15 0706439-353812 39 S+083 05
    16631 86 014H   0433 B 20021121000937000 17 15 0734526-292320 39 S+081 05
    16631 86 014H   0433 B 20021121001009400 17 15 0802022-350905 39 S+083 05
    16623 86 014D   0433 B 20021121000646500 17 15 0549145-115108 39 S+061 05
    16623 86 014D   0433 B 20021121000657500 17 15 0555170-141130 39 S+058 05
    16624 86 014E   0433 B 20021121000712000 17 15 0556107-141040 39 S+075 05
    16623 86 014D   0433 B 20021121000735800 17 15 0618327-222745 39 S+065 05
    25017 97 064A   0433 B 20021121005959100 17 15 0925474+081711 39 S+045 05
    25017 97 064A   0433 B 20021121010011900 17 15 0938010+051244 39 S+043 05
    25017 97 064A   0433 B 20021121010306400 17 15 1205173-240416 39 S+059 05
    
    Notes:
    
    (1) Prime purpose of the observing run was to do some orbit plane scans
        as follows:
    
        (a) search for USA56 rocket which has not been seen for over 400 days.
        The scan was started at 20h00UT and lasted 93 minutes when I had to
        abandon it as I ran into trees.Nothing of interest was seen apart from
        an occassional meteor and predicted satellites. Conditions were clear
        and if the satellite passed through my field of view it must have
        been fainter than magnitude +8.5.
    
        (b) scans for USA 116 and USA 161 were done using the elements
        supplied by Bjoern Gimle the previous day. The scans were negative.
        The orbit plane of USA 116 was scanned 15 minutes either side of
        the expected time of 23h05mUT 20 Nov. The orbit plane of USA 161
        was scanned 15 minutes either side of expected time 00h26mUT 21
        November. Finally USA 116 was scanned 15 minutes either side of
        predicted time of 00h41m30s UT 21 November. Conditions for the
        scans at 00h26m UT and 00h41m30sUT were very good.
    
    (2) The observations reported so far were extracted from a 3 hour video
        tape and labelled Video #2. I still have Video #1, running for 4
        hours to go through and estimate another 40 positions to determine!
    
    (3) Satellites still to be reported are:
    
        Milstar 3
        DMSP B5D2-7  flared to -1 magnitude for about 2-3 seconds
        USA 81
        USA 144
        DMSP 5D-2 S-14 - I got the impression it was someway off prediction
                         but will confirm when I measure it.
        NOSS 2-2 triplet - very low elevation but quite easy
        MSX
        USA 125 - running about a minute late on last elements issued
        NOSS 2-1 triplet - seen but consider too faint to try and measure
        Milstar 3 Cent rocket - 1st pass
        Lacrosse 4
        NOSS 2 (e)
    
    (4) I have a problem with some of the pieces of paper on which I scribbled
        notes - they are sticky with syrup and peanut butter which dripped
        onto them whilst I was observing/eating in the dark-however the data
        is not lost!  I hope to report the rest tomorrow .
    
    Cheers
    Greg
    
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