While observing Geosats DBS-2 and 3 on March 13th and 14th UT, I "discovered" an unidentified geosat moving slowly south (descending node) just east of DBS-2 on both nights. This indicates a near geo-sync orbit (Mean Motion approx. 1.0027 Revs/Day) of moderate inclination. The "unknown" does not appear in McCants ALLSAT.ZIP or GEO.ZIP files using Rob Matson's SKYMAP v6.4, while other geosats plotted in the file are visible in a 12.5" Newtonian, (DBS-2, DBS-3, AMSC-1, 99060A and 99056A in order East-to-West). That's 6 Geosats visible in a 1/2 degree field-of-view at the same time! During the observation periods, the satellite was for the most part brighter than DBS-2 and DBS-3, at approximately magnitude 8, decreasing to 10 over the course of an hour -- generally steady magnitude -- no flares or flickering noted. Some approximate positions made from 37.272N 121.977W Alt 73M Campbell California are as follows: March 13 at 5:15 U.T. Unknown just east (about 1/4 degree) of DBS-2 March 13 at 6:15:31 U.T. +/- 1 sec. J2000 Position 11h 08.0031m -6.7739, accurate to .004 degree March 13 at 6:22 U.T. Enters Earth's Shadow March 14 at 5:07 U.T Unknown again just east of DBS-2 (but slightly closer than previous night,) crossing "geosync" plane heading south. March 14 at 5:15:58 U.T Position 10h 12.2499m -5.99950 error +/- 1 second time, 0.003 degrees. March 14 at 5:43:48 U.T. Position 10h 40.094360m -6.398180, same errors as above. March 14 at 5:52:29 U.T. Position 10h 48.785120m -6.513480, same errors as above. Within the next few nights, the unknown should be close to DBS-2 at 5:00 U.T. heading south, staying within +/- 1/2 degree of DBS-2 for over two hours. More observations are desired. RICK BALDRIDGE Campbell, CA USA rickbaldridge@msn.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Mar 13 2001 - 23:20:32 PST