Re: [APML] OT: Satellite Tracking (was OK What the He** is it??)

[steve banbury <banburys@sonic.net>]

Jim
At one of the TVS star parties, a geosynchronous satellite drifted thru the
star field of our 17.5 inch newtonian--startling us all.
We were able to recover it several times and watch it drift by. Being
geosynchronous, it drifts relative the the background stars.
When we turned off the RA drive, it stayed fixed, and the stars drifted
by--a very interesting visual effect. The satellite doesn't have 
to be spinning to create the effect you imaged. The reflection magnitude is
a function of the angle between the sun, the spacecraft, 
and the observer.

There Two Line Ephemerides (TLE's) on line for hundreds of spacecraft  with
geosynchronous and asynchronous orbits.
And there are a number of satellite tracking programs  which will plot line
of sight (visual and or RF) access of any of these spacecraft
for  a geographic position. WinTrak Pro, and Satrack come to mind. You
download the TLE's from the web, and then let these programs 
crunch the numbers. 

Sorting out which TLE's to crunch could be time consuming. I'd suggest
taking a look at TS Kelso's website:

http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/

Maybe the challenge of identifying which S/C you captured would tweak his
interest and he would lend a hand.

Happy hunting--steve



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