Observations 11 September 2009 ------------------------------------- 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. Meade DSI Pro II Monochrome CCD camera without filters. using integration times of 5 sec min to 25 seconds maximum depending on brightness of sky in particular area.No image processing done, but some done automatically in the auto reduction software. Used with 4 inch SKYWATCHER refractor- model 1025 - fitted with home made focal reducer to give an f/2.56 system. Image scale is 6.56 arc sec/pixel and field of view 84.8 x 63.2 arc minutes. Shows 15th magnitude stars in real time with reasonably good conditions. Exposure time to nearest second inserted into image FITS header from PC clock which is periodically checked against the time from my GPS unit. Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude -33.94058 deg, Elevation 10 metres-situated in Pinelands (Cape Town),South Africa FOR CLASSFD.TLE: ====================== 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911173343000 16 15 1856258-004856 28 +139 25 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911173504000 16 15 1857472-005024 28 +131 02 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911174031000 16 15 1903162-005625 38 +130 02 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911174447000 16 15 1907359-010053 18 +129 02 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911175512000 16 15 1918024-011115 18 +131 02 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911180757000 16 15 1930532-012252 28 +128 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911181504000 16 15 1938029-012846 18 +129 02 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911182450000 16 15 1947536-013615 28 +128 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911184104000 16 15 2004166-014654 38 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911184718000 16 15 2010326-015025 38 +122 03 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911185654000 16 15 2020140-015510 18 +123 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911185820000 16 15 2021408-015549 18 +123 02 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911185949000 16 15 2023108-015628 38 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911190144000 16 15 2025068-015716 38 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911190418000 16 15 2027419-015818 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911190612000 16 15 2029375-015904 17 +122 02 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911190714000 16 15 2030393-015925 28 +122 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911191047000 16 15 2034142-020040 18 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911191244000 16 15 2036125-020118 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911191522000 16 15 2038518-020207 28 +121 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911191747000 16 15 2041191-020248 28 +122 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911192115000 16 15 2044489-020342 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911194128000 16 15 2105132-020651 28 +124 03 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911194243000 16 15 2106293-020656 18 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911195228000 16 15 2116193-020704 38 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911200758000 16 15 2131583-020534 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911201226000 16 15 2136289-020444 18 +121 03 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911202159000 16 15 2146076-020222 18 +118 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911203441000 16 15 2158567-015800 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911205248000 16 15 2217131-014924 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911210503000 16 15 2229346-014153 38 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911211143000 16 15 2236166-013727 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911211518000 16 15 2239533-013450 18 +102 01 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911211946000 16 15 2244229-013128 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911212447000 16 15 2249265-012728 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911212709000 16 15 2251494-012533 28 22787 93 056A 0433 G 20090911212802000 16 15 2252424-012455 28 +145 04 STRAYS SEEN: ============== M-352 R/B RANGE 612 kms 21695 91 062B 0433 G 20090911174031000 16 25 1902969-003458 28 Probably meteor - no satellite match 00002 0433 G 20090911184718000 16 15 2010433-020643 29 +124 06 SL-12 R/B(2) variable 20836 74 060F 0433 G 20090911185654000 16 15 2019139-015620 28 +129 01 20836 74 060f 0433 G 20090911190612000 16 15 2028263-012612 18 +133 02 ATLAS 2AS CENTAUR range 14060 kms steady 28253 04 017B 0433 G 20090911201226000 16 15 2137303-021541 28 +082 00 Notes: ======== (1) The purpose of this observation session was prompted by the PAN launch.It was found that PAN was/is transmitting on a frequency unique to geostationary satellites of the UFO series - ( further details may be found at http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av018/.) So as to be able to detect PAN, once in geostationary orbit, it was necessary to do a check on the transmitting status of the UFO satellites above my location. (2) This I started on the 10th September and identified two with no problem but encountered a problem with UFO-F09 and UFO-F02 , which at the time were close together in my sky, and I could detect no transmissions from either predicted location so I did a little scanning with my dish and found a signal about midway between the two-which satellite was it? I have failed to see UFO-F02 when tried several times during the past month or so so it was "lost". The transmission received indicated it was UFO-F02 but about 10 degrees away in azimuth from where predicted ( and not seen previously). UFO-F09 is a drifter so I waited until yesterday when the seperation between UFO-F02 and UFO-F09 would be greater. (3) On the 11th September I again tried UFO-F09 - nil so Im pretty confident this satellite is not transmitting nor operational -hence its drifting orbit. The suspected UFO-F02 was still in the same location where observed by radio approximately 24 hours earlier. I was now certain this was UFO-F02, made a note of the dish bearings, compared it to the predicted (not found position) so had an idea what the "offset" was. (4) As soon as it was dark enough lastnight (11th September) I set the optical tracking system on the bearings obtained from the dish which had been monitoring the radio signal the whole time,and sure enough there was a satellite in the field of view which the program HEAVENSAT showed contained no other satellites.Over the next few hours I took the images, whose positions are reported above, as the satellite moved towards its highest point, went through the highest point and then started decreasing altitude. During the entire excercise the radio equipment was recording the doppler shifted frequency. (5) I followed the satellite optically until it went into shadow. About two minutes later the doppler frequency, which had been decreasing started to increase .The satellite was now obviously on internal power as it was in shadow and I monitored the doppler frequency until the satellite left shadow when the doppler frequency reversed its direction and started to decrease again. The total change in frequency was of the order of 600 Hz- I have still to do further analysis of the doppler. (6) As best I can recall this is the first time I have used a dish to pinpoint a signal in the sky and then optically acquire the signal source so I have proved to myself, at least, that the dish pointing accuracy is good enough for optical work. (7) One thing that was very noticeable is how the satellite increased in brightness as the phase angle decreased as it approached shadow entry, changing from about magnitude +13.5/+14 to magnitude +10 or so. (8) APEX gives the following orbit for the object from the above positions as: osculating elements for epoch 2009-09-11 21h16m32.5s UT semi-major axis = 42167.2 Km eccentricity = 0.000326 inclination = 06.6319 degrees RA Ascending node= 046.6117 degrees Arg of perigee = 116.167 degrees Mean Anomaly = 176.007 degrees sub-satellite longitude 28.8 degrees east. As can be seen this closely matches those of UFO-F02 except for the mean motion. Sorry for such a long report but I think it illustrates what can be done using a combination of radio and optical tracking. All optical processing was done using APEX, whilst radio work was done using SPECTRUM LABORATORY with a 6 foot dish feeding into a low noise high gain preamplifier and then into an AR8600 receiver. Now to do the radio part which I wont bore SeeSat readers with! Cheers Greg ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 12 2009 - 09:21:12 UTC