Here are my revisions: Centaur 10.1 3.0 0.0 3.7 v 1 71004U 03336.53841546 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 06 2 71004 63.4733 300.8682 0149592 188.4793 171.3703 13.43448178 02 NOSS leader 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 v 1 71001U 03336.53861882 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 08 2 71001 63.4247 301.5580 0135067 185.2161 174.7465 13.42002823 04 NOSS trailer 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.9 v 1 71002U 03336.53863180 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 02 2 71002 63.4241 301.5547 0135680 184.7387 175.2364 13.41930476 04 The late (compared with the 2001 launch) final Centaur burn, should have little effect on the final elements of the NOSS leader and NOSS trailer, so I am reasonably confident in those. The late burn may have a more significant effect on the Centaur's final orbit. I would not be surprised if its inclination is somewhat different, and it could end up in a slightly lower orbit, or even a higher orbit - perhaps sufficient to cause it to trail the payloads. My strategy would be to start observing about 2 min ahead of the predicted time of the Centaur elset, but to be prepared for the possibility that the first objects I see are the payloads. The payloads can be expected to follow one another at several second intervals. There may be two or three payloads. I expect three, but time will tell. The Centaur usually is more than one magnitude brighter than the NOSS, but their range in magnitude is such that one of the payloads could outshine it on a given pass. Finally, I plan to plot both the Centaur and the payloads on my finder charts, because their planes will be sufficiently different to put them on different tracks. Happy hunting! Ted Molczan ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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