Large sats for solar transi
Rob Matson (Rob_Matson@cpqm.mail.saic.com)
30 Jul 1996 13:17:10 -0800
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Date: 96/07/30 04:39
To: Matson, Rob
From: Willie Koorts
Willie Koorts wrote:
> I ran Skymap in its transit mode and tried looking for the sats
> passing across the disk of the sun. I had no luck yet. I realised
> that I needed very accurate elements and should rather target
> only a few selected sats, perhaps ones with stable orbits and of
> fair size. I have a video camera at home or if I am quick enough,
> might be able to take a photo with a camera on a tripod.
>
> Have you got a list of such suitable sats?
I started with Ted Molczan's latest element set and took a look at the
physical dimensions of the satellites. There are around 600 in the list that
have a length of 6 meters or more. Around 460 have a length of
7 meters or more, and only 68 have a length of at least 8 meters.
Of these 68, 55 have maximum projected areas of 20 sq-m or more,
51 have max proj areas of 25 sq-m or more, and 30 have a max projected area of
at least 30 square-meters. I'd stick to those 30.
They are:
06212 Radcat 12.2 3.0 0.0 4.8
08074 Pageos (H) 8.6 0.0 0.0 3.7
10967 Seasat 21.0 1.5 0.0 5.1
16182 Cosmos 1697 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
16609 Mir Complex 32.7 4.2 0.0 3.4
16910 EGP r 13.5 2.5 0.0 4.9
17590 Cosmos 1833 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
17974 Cosmos 1844 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
19120 Cosmos 1943 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
19650 Cosmos 1980 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
19671 Lacrosse 1 18.0 4.5 0.0 3.9
20322 COBE 4.9 8.5 0.0 3.9
20580 HST 13.3 4.3 0.0 4.3
20625 Cosmos 2082 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
21147 Lacrosse 2 18.0 4.5 0.0 3.9
21701 UARS 9.8 4.6 0.0 4.4
22220 Cosmos 2219 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
22251 USA 86 15.0 3.0 0.0 4.6
22285 Cosmos 2227 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
22566 Cosmos 2237 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
22803 Cosmos 2263 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
23088 Cosmos 2278 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
23343 Resurs 1-3 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
23405 Cosmos 2297 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
23605 Helios 1A 10.0 3.0 0.0 5.0
23705 Cosmos 2322 r 10.4 3.9 0.0 4.6
23710 Radarsat 8.0 0.0 0.0 3.9
23712 Milstar DFS 2 50.0 0.0 0.0 -0.0
23728 USA 116 15.0 3.0 0.0 4.6
23862 NOSS 2-3 (A) 15.0 4.0 0.0 4.2
A few of these (e.g. Lacrosse 1 and 2) will not generally have "fresh" orbital
elements, so they are probably unsuitable for transit predictions. --Rob