Optical 23 Oct 2011

From: Greg Roberts (grr@telkomsa.net)
Date: Mon Oct 24 2011 - 10:48:09 UTC

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    Observations 23 Oct 2011
    ------------------------------------
    
    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 sensitivity
    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 ~100mm focal length f/2.8 lens,integrating for 128 fields
    which is equivalent to a max exposure of 2.56 seconds maximum
    per image, but dependent on sky brightness. Field of view
    4.2 x 3.1 degrees. Leo sat limit about +7.5 mag
    Individual frames are video time stamped with GPS derived signal.
    Images processed and measured manually.
    
    (2)Meade DSI Pro II Monochrome CCD camera without filters.
    using integration time of 05 sec. Used with 25mm focal length
    f/1.8 lens ,field of view 14.6 x 10.8 degrees approximately.
    Leo sat limit about mag +7
    Exposure time to nearest second inserted into image FITS header
    from PC clock which is checked against GPS signal.
    Images processed and automatically reduced using APEX.
    
    Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude -33.94058 deg,
    Elevation 10 metres-situated in Pinelands (Cape Town),South Africa
    
    
    FOR CLASSIFIED.TLE:
    -------------------------------
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20111023193530300 56 15 0710569-600248 39  +055 05
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20111023193554800 56 15 0648156-602913 39  +050 05
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20111023193621000 56 15 0620118-603457 39  +045 05
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20111023193641700 56 15 0555323-601857 39  +040 05
    24680 96 072A   0433 G 20111023193704800 56 15 0525321-593122 39  +035 05
    
    STRAYS SEEN:
    ---------------------
    COSMOS 1176 steady
    11788 80 034A   0433 G 20111023174929800 56 15 2332226-040649 39  +055 05
    TSX5
    26374 00 030A   0433 G 20111023175938800 56 15 2319582-054005 39  +075 05
    SL-8 R/B steady
    04391 70 036J   0433 G 20111023181838300 56 15 2237451-054714 39  +060 05
    MIDAS 7 steady
    00622 63 030A   0433 G 20111023183922100 56 15 2158532-043436 39  +060 05
    MOLNIYA 1-32  range 3780 kms
    08601 76 006A   0433 G 20111023183935300 56 15 2157397-043528 39  +065 05
    FALCON 9 R/B steady
    37253 10 066K   0433 G 20111023184556800 56 15 2147408-044452 39  +030 05
    ATLAS CENTAUR R/B range 4970 kms bright flash every ~ 4 seconds
    10779 78 035B   0433 G 20111023185356500 56 15 2120424-051650 39  +030 05
    DELTA 1 R/B variable range 5350 km
    25619 99 003B   0433 G 20111023185629500 56 15 2118329-070407 39  +070 05
    COSMOS 1410
    13589 82 096A   0433 G 20111023190407700 56 15 2106269-052612 39  +055 05
    GLOBALSTAR MO19 variable
    25677 99 019B   0433 G 20111023191530500 56 15 2046203-045122 39  +055 05
    CZ-4 DEB variable
    26220 99 057DJ  0433 G 20111023192013300 56 15 2041382-050210 39  +070 05
    DELTA 1 DEB variable
    12176 78 026R   0433 G 20111023192342400 56 15 2032366-034712 39  +070 05
    COSMOS 1763
    16860 86 052A   0433 G 20111023192431400 56 15 2025175-044248 39  +075 05
    
    
    PLANE SCAN "UNKNOWNS"
    ----------------------------------------
    Approx altitude 3000 kms   RA node = ~106 deg   i = 33.1 degrees - assuming
    circular orbit using two positions which is not 100% correct for high eccen.
    90070 06 829A   0433 G 20111023175359400 56 15 2317400-045501 39  +045 05
    90070 06 829A   0433 G 20111023175407500 56 15 2320524-051322 39  +040 05
    90070 06 829A   0433 G 20111023175415900 56 15 2324018-053104 39  +045 05
    90070 06 829A   0433 G 20111023175424800 56 15 2327213-054937 39  +040 05
    90070 06 829A   0433 G 20111023175433500 56 15 2330314-060726 39  +045 05
    90070 06 829A   0433 G 20111023175437900 56 15 2332064-061705 39  +040 05
    
    Approx altitude 11550 kms  RA node = 006.6   i = 29.5 degrees - again 
    assuming
    a circular orbit which it is not.
    99999 99 999A   0433 G 20111023182213100 56 15 2225588-071642 39  +060 05
    99999 99 999A   0433 G 20111023182225800 56 15 2236562-070834 39  +060 05
    99999 99 999A   0433 G 20111023182253900 56 15 2239084-065148 39  +060 05
    
    
    NOTES:
    --------
    (1) Purpose of observing session was to do a plane scane for 90070 last
        seen about 60 days ago.
    
    (2) Found two objects not identified in my element database.  Im reasonably
        confident that the object reported as 90070 is the correct candidate
        as altitude and track angle was about what was expected so running
        about half an hour early  on current integrated orbital elements.
    
        The second object (99999) was not at expected track angle and altitude
        ( ~ 11550 kms) was far too high so is probably an unknown or one of the
        lost low inclination objects in high eccentricity orbit.
    
    (3) The observations above are only the objects seen with video using the
        MINTRON camera. I have still to process the 1000 odd FITS images
        secured with the Meade CCD camera - at a rough count about 25
        satellites. (duh :-((((- more work!)
    
    (4) I have received permission from Thiery Marais to freely distribute the
        software that he wrote that I currently use to compute my plane scans.
        The file is about 250 kb so can be emailed to anyone requesting such.
        It provides the azimuth and elevation of the orbit plane for a satellite
        at intervals specified by the observer and uses standard TLE's as input.
        Runs under DOS/Windows. No source code available.
    
        MANY thanks Thiery for your permission - much appreciated.
    
    Cheers
    Greg
    
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