That translates to a nice pass just north of San Francisco around 5:50-6:10am PDT. Dale -----Original Message----- From: Ted Molczan [mailto:molczan@rogers.com] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 6:35 PM To: SeeSat-L Subject: Shenzhou 5 - search elements and visibility Various news media are reporting that the Shenzhou 5 was launched on 2003 Oct 15 at 09:00 Beijing Time = 01:00 UTC of the same date. If Shenzhou 5 exactly repeats the launch trajectory and orbital manoeuvres of Shenzhou 3 and 4, then these search elements should be accurate to within about 1 min in time, and a fraction of a degree in predicted sky track. Of course, it would be prudent to begin observing several minutes early. 1. Elliptical Parking Orbit until 2003 Oct 15 at 07:50 UTC The spacecraft and rocket body will be in nearly same orbit for the first approx 6 h and 50 m after launch. Below is the search elset of the rocket. My guess is that the spacecraft will trail a short distance behind the rocket during this period. Shenzhou 5 r 15.5 3.4 0.0 4.4 d 1 70000U 03288.67587361 .00788058 82648-5 58603-3 0 31 2 70000 42.4069 26.2082 0099929 134.5463 16.8336 16.04205144 103 2. Circularized Orbit after 2003 Oct 15 at 07:50 UTC The spacecraft will circularize its orbit as it passes through apogee for the 5th time, approx 6 h and 50 m after launch, whereupon it will be in this orbit: Shenzhou 5 7.8 2.5 0.0 5.4 d 1 70001U 03288.67700930 .00036000 00000-0 19749-3 0 17 2 70001 42.4080 26.2791 0004797 163.8920 321.6647 15.78791273 101 3. Visibility Windows Observers between about latitude 33 N and 50 N will have fair to excellent morning visibility. Observers between about latitude 33 S and 50 S will have fair to excellent evening visibility. Less favourable visibility will extend for several degrees outside this range. Ted Molczan ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 14 2003 - 23:20:41 EDT