Observations 08 MAY 2010:
----------------------------
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 25mm focal length f/1.4 lens,integrating for 128 frames
which is equivalent to a max exposure of 2.56 seconds per image,
depending on sky background so exposure varied. Field of view
14.6 x 10.8 degrees - LEO sats down to about mag +7?
Second camera 12.5mm focal length at f/1.9 with Meade DSI Pro II
monochrome CCD camera - exposure 3-4 seconds depending on sky
background. Field of view 29 x 21.5 degrees - leo sats down to
about mag +5, depending on sky darkness.
Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S,
Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
Strays seen:
==============
SL-8 R/B variable
27819 03 023B 0433 F 20100508164721800 56 15 1016130+140510 39 +030 05
TERRA SAR X variable
31698 07 026A 0433 F 20100508164822000 56 15 1057560+135454 39 +030 05
THOR AGENA D R/B steady
00727 64 001A 0433 F 20100508164850600 56 15 1021280+183314 39 +025 05
IRAS steady
13777 83 004A 0433 F 20100508164850600 56 15 0955530+170856 39 +045 05
SL-8 R/B steady
19770 89 005B 0433 F 20100508164910000 56 15 1053570+071852 39 +038 05
CORIOLIS variable
27640 03 001A 0433 F 20100508165244000 56 15 0951100+134002 39 +035 05
SL-3 R/B steady
06257 72 085B 0433 F 20100508165258600 56 15 1035270+133425 39 +030 05
RADARSAT steady
23710 95 059A 0433 F 20100508170005000 56 15 0924590+163243 39 +040 05
SL-8 R/B variable
18130 87 054B 0433 F 20100508171052500 56 15 1035100+091257 39 +045 05
IRIDIUM 61 steady
25263 98 018B 0433 F 20100508171822400 56 15 1013160+053749 39 +057 05
CZ-4B R/B steady
28471 04 044B 0433 F 20100508172054900 56 15 1043520+021640 39 +015 05
PSLV R/B steady
26960 01 049D 0433 F 20100508172442700 56 15 1042550-020321 39 +025 05
SL-14 R/B steady
22287 92 094B 0433 F 20100508172627300 56 15 0948320-013255 39 +025 05
COSMOS 1818 variable
17369 87 011A 0433 F 20100508173115700 56 15 0919230+000842 39 +030 05
ATLAS CENT R variable
07545 74 093B 0433 F 20100508173606000 56 15 0925390+142035 39 +035 05
SL-8 DEB variable
16866 86 052D 0433 F 20100508173725400 56 15 0851290-022320 39 +040 05
COSMOS 1602 steady
15331 84 105A 0433 F 20100508173747200 56 15 0812250-000158 39 +040 05
M-3S2 R/B steady
21695 91 062B 0433 F 20100508174447500 56 15 0734250-042007 39 +040 05
SL-14 R/B variable
14373 83 099B 0433 F 20100508174930000 56 15 0634270-015218 39 +050 05
COSMOS 1305 variable, range 11570 kms, flashing every 11-12 sec
12818 81 088A 0433 F 20100508180925200 56 15 0617100+004500 39 +020 05
Notes:
========
(1) Sole purpose of session was to do a plane scan for X37B.
(2) Frequent relatively fast moving cloud last 1/3 of scan of about 70
minutes but reasonably sure I did not miss any bright satellites.
(3) After the culmination part of the sky the expected satellite
magnitude fell dramatically as a result of being in western city
lit part of sky and poor phase angle.
(4) Cosmos 1305 produced about a dozen regular flashes to mag +2 before
flashing stopped - low in western sky.
(5) Attempted scan on May 7 but total equipment failure at switch on.
Tried a manual scan but did not do too great a job as a bit off
position. Did not think worthwhile measuring the ~dozen satellites
seen as nothing was at the expected track angle. Problem repaired
- blown serial port and a suspect power supply ( related?). Now
operating on other serial port and an old computer power supply which
seems ideal for the task.
(6) Now have to find an old Pentium 4 at about 300 Mhz as a standby in
case the serial port blows. No sense in using a 1-2 Ghz PC as all
that is needed is a pentium 4 running under DOS 6.2- Cosatrak
program only occupies about 200K or even less and has to run
under DOS . Now going to go and visit all my friends to see what
they have in their "junk box" :-))
Cheers
Greg
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 10 2010 - 12:25:47 UTC