Obs 27 July 2005

From: Greg Roberts (grr@iafrica.com)
Date: Thu Jul 28 2005 - 11:47:30 EDT

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    Observations 27 July 2005:
    ---------------------------------------
    
    Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System).
    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 37mm focal length f/3.5 lens. This is a one of a set of
    three lenses I tried this night that came from an old 8mm cine
    camera. The field of view is 9.1 x 7.2 degrees and can see stars
    down to about magnitude 8.8. This experiment was part of the
    search for a suitable lens to use for unattended satellite
    tracking. Images were integrated for 0.96 seconds.
    
    
    Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude  33.94058 deg S,
    Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
    
    
    70000 00 000A   0433 G 20050727163906600 56 15 1618240-144342 39
    70000 00 000A   0433 G 20050727164115200 56 15 1725020-285618 39
    70000 00 000A   0433 G 20050727164236800 56 15 1821390-365334 39
    70000 00 000A   0433 G 20050727164331500 56 15 1904390-405628 39
    70000 00 000A   0433 G 20050727164521000 56 15 2032230-445304 39
    70000 00 000A   0433 G 20050727164625300 56 15 2118280-445547 39
    
    now gone into daylight sky and not trackable from my location
    unless I am prepared to beat the birds to greeting sunrise!
    
    22519 92 086C   0433 G 20050727182639800 56 15 1723080-252624 39
    22519 92 086C   0433 G 20050727182944200 56 15 1746440-145526 39
    22519 92 086C   0433 G 20050727183158600 56 15 1800010-083634 39
    26906 01 040B   0433 G 20050727182128800 56 15 0415160-760159 39
    26906 01 040B   0433 G 20050727182206200 56 15 0245450-782758 39
    25744 99 028A   0433 G 20050727175854200 56 15 0925270-860233 39
    25744 99 028A   0433 G 20050727180001400 56 15 1614510-861616 39
    25744 99 028A   0433 G 20050727180200400 56 15 1825400-751630 39
    23533 95 015A   0433 G 20050727174648500 56 15 0036470-821527 39
    23533 95 015A   0433 G 20050727174801400 56 15 1525590-795521 39
    23533 95 015A   0433 G 20050727174856100 56 15 1433180-605106 39
    19460 88 078A   0433 G 20050727173446500 56 15 0935200-440036 39
    19460 88 078A   0433 G 20050727173544100 56 15 1027420-310711 39
    19460 88 078A   0433 G 20050727173649400 56 15 1113030-125557 39
    28096 03 054B   0433 G 20050727172640700 56 15 0936310-155308 39
    28096 03 054B   0433 G 20050727172737400 56 15 1000510-100056 39
    90016 03 766A   0433 G 20050727171312800 56 15 1514070+012534 39
    23936 96 029E   0433 G 20050727170726800 56 15 0852530-313037 39
    23862 96 029D   0433 G 20050727170726800 56 15 0850490-324031 39
    24753 97 012A   0433 G 20050727170328700 56 15 1839270-090911 39
    24753 97 012A   0433 G 20050727170419600 56 15 1810430+031128 39
    25157 98 007A   0433 G 20050727170011900 56 15 1924070-173604 39
    25157 98 007A   0433 G 20050727170058900 56 15 1849340-075048 39
    25157 98 007A   0433 G 20050727170143100 56 15 1818340+021838 39
    90013 03 564A   0433 G 20050727165139600 56 15 1622160-010105 39
    
    
    Corrections to obs of 24th July,2005:
    -------------------------------------------------
    
    28385 04 034B   0433 G 20050724171325500 56 15 1301285+154600 39
    28385 04 034B   0433 G 20050724171325300 56 15 1301270+154655 39
    28385 04 034B   0433 G 20050724182326600 56 15 1422180-230952 39
    28385 04 034B   0433 G 20050724184306800 56 15 1451518-344009 39
    27712 03 012B   0433 G 20050724191744200 56 15 1656571+032902 39
    
    
    Notes:
    ------
    (1) Re corrections: two positions of #28385 given -one was from
        integrating many frames whilst the other was determined from
        a "raw" image.
    
        Our orbit analyst Mike queried the observation of #27712 as
        it had a time residual of 1 minute. I remeasured it and got
        the above result which is essentially the same as the original
        measurement so I can find nothing wrong with the original
        measurement.(error probably staring me in the face!)
    
    (2) Last tracking session I did not see USA 89R (#22519) but got
        it this time. USA 125r2 was too faint for the optical system
        used.
    
    (3) The lens used produced nice images and pleasing views but,
        as expected, can only see satellites down to about magnitude 7
        or so, so is not suitable for what I have in mind. The other
        two lenses tested - 6.3mm focal length at f/1.9 and 13 mm
        focal length at f/1.2 are unsatisfactory for satellite use
        due to coma and vignetting - at least the French telephoto
        lens tested earlier gave good images down to 15mm focal length.
    
    (4) Tomorrow I will report the strays seen- nothing exciting and
        no unknowns.
    
    Cheers
    Greg
    
    
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