ExoMars

Thanks to the element sets produced by Cees Bassa I was able to observe the
ExoMars spacecraft over my location as the range increased from about 25000
to 50000 kms shortly after it was injected into its earth escape orbit.

I initially had to search the 11 element sets twice, taking about an hour,
before I located the spacecrafts running fairly close to the  1st elset
of the second posting by Cees, so I missed it at the shorter ranges. I 
was also
using a narrow field telescope which of course did not help matters.

Initially the one spacecraft was bright and steady - about magnitude +10
whilst the second object was about two magnitudes fainter and leading the
brighter object and travelling slightly faster. At culmination the 
satellites
reached an elevation of about 88 degrees which made tracking a little
difficult as trying to keep track of a faint object - by now about mag +13
  or so as to swung around in azimuth. I was quite happy to loose it as
it was long past my bedtime!

I will report observations made in the next day or so..

Cheers
Greg

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