Subject:      Re: Uncatalogued geosynchronous satellites tracked
From:         thomsona@netcom.com (Allen Thomson)
Date:         1996/02/10
Message-Id:   <thomsonaDMKBtn.60s@netcom.com>
Newsgroups:   sci.space.policy,sci.astro.amateur

In article <thomsonaDMGGG0.Dy2@netcom.com> thomsona@netcom.com (Allen Thomson) writes:
>In article <4fb4dn$1ea@news.ox.ac.uk> thomas.womack@merton.oxford.ac.uk(Thomas Womack) writes:

[snip]

>>Any chance of details such as the telescopes used? Is he using
>>binoculars or a university 36" sky-survey telescope?
>>
>
>   I'll ask.



   Rainer Kracht  has kindly answered my query about
his observations of geosynchronous satellites and has granted permission to 
repost here.  (Seesat-l is an amateur satellite observers' mailing list.)  
The text of his reply follows.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I have written a short message to seesat-l about the detection of
 the two geosats. My messages to seesat-l are accessible to everyone
 who has access to the www, so it's ok if you post them on
 sci.space.policy and sci.space.amateur.

 Observations of GEO347 show an orbit of about 29700 km x 41900 km x  8.3 deg.
 Chalet-1 (1978-058A) had                      29929    x 42039    x 12
 Vortex-1 (1979-086A) had                      30443    x 41497    x  7.5.

 (Source: United Nations Registry of Space Objects, RAE-Tables,
          Spaceflight, Vol. 37, p.383, Nov 1995)

 Text of first message to seesat-l follows.

 Rainer


Nachricht von    : R.KRACHT@ABBS.heide.de (Rainer Kracht)
Betrifft         : Observations of geosync satellites
Kopienempfaenger : seesat-l@iris01.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de
Erstellungsdatum : 01.05.1995 16:43:19 S+0

  
 Observations of geosync satellites 
  
 I started to observe geosats on March 1 this year, when the declination 
 of the sun was nearly the same as that of the geostationary satellites 
 as seen from my site (+9.6626 east long./+53.7695 north lat./9m). I use a 
 Dynamax 8" SCT (200 mm), my observation sky is moderately bright with 
 naked eye stars to mag 4.5 (only occasionally mag 5.5). 
  
 On March 25 I found the flashing DFH-3 (94-80A, 23415). Two days later I  
 observed it again near alpha Hya. Clouds terminated the observations of 
 DFH-3, but about one hour later the sky was clear again and I returned to 
 the vicinity of alpha Hya. There I found an unknown geosat (of mag 10.5), 
 which showed a slow drift to the southeast. The next days I found it again 
 and could derive an orbit. 
  
 When I followed the unknown object on April 24, a very slowly moving  
 satellite crossed the path of the unknown. Closest approach (about 
 10 arcseconds) was at 21:43:16.72 UTC. I decided to follow the new object, 
 which was about mag 10.0. It turned out to be another unknown geosat with 
 an even greater inclination and eccentricity. 
  
 The groundtrack of the first object was centered at 331.6 to 331.2 deg 
 east longitude in April, so I called it GEO331. The second object is 
 stationed over approx. 347.1 deg east longitude (GEO347). Elsets for 
 both objects: 
  
GEO331         
1 99331U          95117.00000000 -.00000110  00000-0  00000+0 0    03 
2 99331   1.3344 337.2278 0130971 183.4799  25.0139  1.00262571    00 
GEO347         
1 99347U          95117.00000000  .00000000  00000-0  00000+0 0    07 
2 99347   8.4229 332.5570 1445014 255.0748 333.7497  1.00269578    08 
  
 Rainer Kracht