Re: accuracy of ISS / Venus transit track

From: John Locker (john@satcom.freeserve.co.uk)
Date: Fri Jun 04 2004 - 13:24:49 EDT

  • Next message: Adam Vellender: "Introduction and Questions"

    The lowest elevation pass I have on file Tom is that of  Aug 29 2003 ( had
    forgotten about it )
    The sun was at 15 degs , and ISS had an angular diameter of just 4.1" at a
    range of 1125km
    
    I'd be surprised if you could get any useable results below that elevation
    as you would need a near full disk image , and the station would be almost
    invisible.
    
    A smaller FOV could obviously be used , but then that would defeat the
    object as only a tiny portion of the solar disk would be in frame.
    
    John.
    
    
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: "Thomas Fly" <tfly@alumni.caltech.edu>
    To: "Matson, Robert" <ROBERT.D.MATSON@saic.com>; "SeeSat-L"
    <SeeSat-L@satobs.org>
    Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 5:33 PM
    Subject: Re: accuracy of ISS / Venus transit track
    
    
    > Robert Matson wrote:
    > > Just wanted to chime in that Tom is absolutely right
    >
    > Hi Robert- I entered the following transit location into CalSKY:
    >
    > A - seconds elapsed since "Contact 1," at 5:13:29 UTC
    > B - UTC time (June 8)
    >
    > C - elevation angle of the ISS/Venus
    > D - azimuth angle of the ISS ( + is East from North; - is W from N)
    > E - range (miles)
    >
    > F - latitude for observing the transit
    > G - longitude
    >
    > H - sun elevation angle
    > I - sun/Venus separation angle
    >
    > A----  B-------  C--- D----- E--- F------- G-------- H---- I----
    >  7762   7:22:51   0.9  -64.5 1319  27.5991  171.1298   0.5   0.2
    >
    > which appears to give an "unrefracted" answer back, showing the ISS
    passing
    > about 2' of arc above Venus:
    >
    > Tuesday 8 June 2004
    >  Observer SiteUser Site
    > WGS84: Lon: +171d07m47.3s  Lat: +27d35m56.8s  Alt: -6m
    >  7h22m50.97sISSMay cross the disk of Venus. Separation: 0.03d  Position
    Angle:
    > 117.9d
    > Angular Velocity: 6.5'/s Angular diameter: 8.7"  size: 73.0m x 44.5m x
    27.5m
    > Satellite at az: 295.5d WNW  h:  1.0d  dist: 2122.7 km  mag=13.1m  -5.7
    >
    > I hope someday to capture a transit of the ISS across a rising/setting Sun
    or
    > Moon- though at that distance & seeing, the ISS is likely only to be a
    small,
    > indistinct blob- otherwise, the effect of atmospheric ray-bending is just
    a
    > small technical point ;-)
    >
    > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive:
    > http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
    >
    >
    
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive:  
    http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 04 2004 - 13:31:38 EDT