New observations have been reported by Derek de Bastos, David Brierley, Jean-Paul Cornec, Robert W. Fisher, Bruce MacDonald, Thierry Marais, Kevin Mangis, Alberto Rango, Peter Wakelin and Mike Waterman. I have added them to those previously reported, and fit the following elements to the most accurate observations: USA 193 5.0 2.5 0.0 4.3 v 244 X 261 km 1 29651U 06057A 08049.77920947 .00216878 00000-0 25857-3 0 02 2 29651 58.5064 36.3073 0012348 89.8997 270.3520 16.07667115 02 Arc 2008 Feb 16.98 - 18.79, WRMS residuals = 0.020 deg I shortened the arc to the period since the object was recovered late on Feb 16 UTC. Despite the small residuals, the eccentricity may be a bit too high; and the rate of decay perhaps 10 percent low. Predicted arrival times tonight are uncertain by at least 10 s; track uncertainty is about 0.1 deg. Rate of altitude decrease is about 1.2 km/d (kilometres per day). Using the above elements and a 10.7 cm solar flux of 71, Satevo v0.51 estimates decay from orbit on 2008 March 17. The uncertainty is at least several days. Definition of 2-line elements format: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/JavaSSOP/SSOP _Help/tle_def.html Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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