Observations 02 Oct 2008 ------------------------------- Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System). Camera mount now carries two systems that can be operated together as two totally different sytems and computers used. Generally the DSI Pro II camera will be used for high altitude slow moving objects. Tests seem to indicate that its sesnitivity is comparable to the MINTRON ( possibly better) but as its not possible (?) to time stamp to better than 1 second accuracy the time resolution is not good enough for LEO objects. (1) MINTRON low light level CCD surveillance camera (0.005 lux typical in non integration mode) and 0.00005 lux in STARLIGHT mode with 128 frame integration. Used with 135mm focal length f/2.8 lens,integrating for 128 frames which is equivalent to a max exposure of 2.56 seconds maximum per image. Field of view 2.7 x 2.1 degrees. Individual frames are video time stamped with GPS derived signal. (2)Meade DSI Pro II Monochrome CCD camera without filters. using integration times of 20 sec min to 60 seconds maximum depending on brightness of sky in particular area.No image processing done but dark field applied. Used with 200mm focal length f/2.8 Nikkon telephoto lens, field of view 1.88 x 1.40 degrees. Can get to magnitude 13 or so in less than 20 seconds exposure. Exposure time to nearest second inserted into image FITS header from PC clock which is automatically checked every minute against GPS signal. Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S, Elevation 10 metres-situated in Pinelands (Cape Town),South Africa For CLASSFD.TLE -------------------------- 25336 98 029A 0433 F 20081002172109000 56 15 2123001-013123 39 +080 05 25336 98 029A 0433 F 20081002173326000 56 15 2135218-011426 39 +080 05 14675 84 009A 0433 F 20081002174411000 56 15 1734333-023412 39 +110 05 14675 84 009A 0433 F 20081002174736000 56 15 1738547-023328 39 +110 05 19976 89 035A 0433 F 20081002181346000 56 15 2242553+013921 39 +095 05 19976 89 035A 0433 F 20081002181726000 56 15 2246217+014414 39 +095 05 90074 06 585B 0433 F 20081002183119000 56 15 2019078-083014 39 +130 05 90074 06 585B 0433 F 20081002183816000 56 15 2026028-081205 39 +130 05 20963 90 097B 0433 F 20081002185109000 56 15 0105472-015433 39 +120 05 20963 90 097B 0433 F 20081002185336000 56 15 0108084-014621 39 +120 05 26635 00 080A 0433 F 20081002185627000 56 15 1847149+025943 39 +105 05 26635 00 080A 0433 F 20081002185854000 56 15 1850424+025503 39 +105 05 28546 04 050B 0433 F 20081002191602000 56 15 2012403+154701 39 +115 05 28546 04 050B 0433 F 20081002191914000 56 15 2015288+154116 39 +115 05 28500 04 050A 0433 F 20081002192812000 56 15 1838193+164520 39 +105 05 28500 04 050A 0433 F 20081002193303000 56 15 1842171+163938 39 +115 05 28500 04 050A 0433 F 20081002193830000 56 15 1846455+163249 39 +110 05 90008 00 838A 0433 F 20081002194626000 56 15 1812230+035201 39 +120 05 90008 00 838A 0433 F 20081002194938000 56 15 1815315+034342 39 +120 05 Strays seen: --------------- SL-12 R/B(2) geostationary 23720 95 063D 0433 F 20081002185109000 56 15 0109560-020549 39 +120 05 EKRAN 2 debri, slowly flashing to +9 about every 2 minutes 11581 77 092H 0433 F 20081002203449000 56 15 2252112+035714 39 +100 05 11581 77 092H 0433 F 20081002204009000 56 15 2257186+041939 39 +100 05 AFRISTAR geostationary 25515 98 063A 0433 F 20081002204009000 56 15 2252516+052907 39 +110 05 EUTELSAT W3 geostationary 25673 99 018A 0433 F 20081002204009000 56 15 2255320+052904 39 +110 05 Notes: ------- (1) Another evening marred by clouds and poor transparency (2) Finally seen DELTA4DEMO #28500 - quite a difficult satellite, flashing about once every 5 minutes to about mag 10 but in between fainter than about mag +13 (3) All the positional observations made since August 2008 with the Meade camera have a small time error. This has been corrected but the observations are too numerous to post to SeeSat. If anyone wants the corrected observations please let me know and Ill email the correct observations in a zip file about 50k in size to the person concerned. Cheers Greg. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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