Observations 26 Oct 2004 :
----------------------------
Cosatrak 1 (Computerised satellite Tracking System), 1004x low
light level CCD surveillance camera (0.003 lux) with 145mm focal
length f/2.5 lens with focal length reducer, field of view
1.89 x 1.43 degrees.
Conditions poor - FULL moon!
Site 0433 : Longitude 18.51294 deg East, Latitude 33.94058 deg S,
Elevation 10 metres - situated in Pinelands (Cape Town), South Africa
Part 1 of 2 ( 2nd still to be measured)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
26473 00 047A 0433 P 20041026195155500 17 15 1732084-373612 39 S+045 05
26473 00 047A 0433 P 20041026195218200 17 15 1753372-345918 39 S+043 05
26473 00 047A 0433 P 20041026195329200 17 15 1905015-215046 39 S+043 05
26473 00 047A 0433 P 20041026195345600 17 15 1921347-174219 39 S+042 05
24680 96 072A 0433 P 20041026201110200 17 15 0805422-555113 39 S+074 05
24680 96 072A 0433 P 20041026201131000 17 15 0748183-560749 39 S+072 05
24680 96 072A 0433 P 20041026201201000 17 15 0720220-561052 39 S+068 05
24680 96 072A 0433 P 20041026201209700 17 15 0720016-561410 39 S+067 05
20344 89 061D 0433 P 20041026203203400 17 15 1504245-773348 39 S+080 05
20344 89 061D 0433 P 20041026203308400 17 15 1217073-804245 39 S+085 05
20344 89 061D 0433 P 20041026203358100 17 15 1013488-790134 39 S+085 05
25615 98 055C 0433 P 20041026204110400 17 15 1731597-590852 39 S+073 05
25615 98 055C 0433 P 20041026204130900 17 15 1802010-571053 39 S+073 05
28385 04 034B 0433 P 20041026192758600 17 15 0102357+292307 39 +086 05
28385 04 034B 0433 P 20041026192758600 17 15 0102357+292307 39 I+086 05
28385 04 034B 0433 P 20041026193300900 17 15 0113370+262347 39 I+086 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026195428000 17 15 1931558-113038 39 I+071 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026195528400 17 15 1956547-070331 39 I+073 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026195617600 17 15 2014450-033754 39 I+075 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026195711200 17 15 2031545-000916 39 I+076 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026195732300 17 15 2038084+010731 39 I+078 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026195807700 17 15 2047460+031040 39 I+080 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026195930000 17 15 2107316+072721 39 I+078 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200013100 17 15 2116258+092650 39 I+082 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200100900 17 15 2125333+112931 39 I+083 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200200900 17 15 2135451+134857 39 I+082 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200341200 17 15 2150227+171032 39 I+084 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200409800 17 15 2154102+180233 39 I+085 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200550500 17 15 2206013+204812 39 I+086 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200715700 17 15 2214407+225003 39 I+087 05
99000 04 150A 0433 P 20041026200810400 17 15 2219480+240237 39 I+089 05
Comments:
~~~~~~~~~
(1) As a result of poor weather I am forced to track when I normally
would not, hence tracking with a bright full moon!
(2) Still to report:
#07816 DMSP B5C-04, #11732 Noss 3(D), #11389 DMSP B5D1-4,
#26473 Lacrosse 4 1st pass, DMSP F-16, MStar 3 Cen Rkt,
Noss 8(H), DMSP 5D-2 S-14, Noss 4(F) #13845, 90013(geostationary),
DMSP F15,Noss (0)r
(3) An unidentified satellite was spotted and is reported as 99000
above. When first seen it was quite bright and had a rapid short
period variation of about 0.3 magnitude. As I followed it it relatively
rapidly got fainter which made me suspect an object in an elliptical
orbit so I tracked it for as long as I could see it in the hopes of
getting a long enough arc. Eventually the bright sky beat me.
(4) USA 125r was looked for but not seen - suspect either too faint or
poor pointing accuracy of the camera at high elevations.
(5) USA 136 was also looked for after using Mike McCants INT2 program but
looking for it had to be cut short because 96072A was due .
(6) I am currently having a lot of problems with pointing accuracy at
high elevations (>60 degrees) - I cannot make sense out of what is
happening and nights when I should normally be tracking are spent on
trying to resolve the problem ( in between the clouds!)
(7) Willie Koorts has made some significant improvements to the freeware
program CoSaTrak which I use to drive my stepper motor altazimuth
mounting and this has also taken a fair bit of time in beta testing.
(8) I am currently fighting with my ISP as messages addressed to me are
being bounced back to the sender - this has been taking place since
the 7th October and despite numerous complaints to the provider the
problem still persists - for example the SeeSat digest is bounced
back. If anyone has tried to contact me since the 7th October this
is why I have not replied ..... Hopefully the problem will be solved
soon.
Cheers
Greg
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