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Shenzhou 6 viewing times



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 11th 05, 01:38 PM
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Default Shenzhou 6 viewing times

Hi, I'm a complete noob, how can I calculate potential viwing times for
Shenzhou 6?

Is a 42 degree orbit even visible from my lattitude (52 degrees norht)?
I guess it is pretty low in the sky.

Unfortunately I am limited to Binocular and naked eye observations as
my 'scope setup is kind of old fashioned these days. 6" newtonian on
an undriven equatorial mount *sigh* I am about 20 miles north of
London so my southern Horizon is pretty poluted anyway.

I guess what I am looking for is a predicition package that lets me put
in my own elements based on the Shenzhou 5 orbit but correcting for the
launch time.

Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

  #2  
Old October 12th 05, 01:43 AM
Skywise
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Default

wrote in news:1129034325.042768.143270
@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Hi, I'm a complete noob, how can I calculate potential viwing times for
Shenzhou 6?

Is a 42 degree orbit even visible from my lattitude (52 degrees norht)?
I guess it is pretty low in the sky.

Unfortunately I am limited to Binocular and naked eye observations as
my 'scope setup is kind of old fashioned these days. 6" newtonian on
an undriven equatorial mount *sigh* I am about 20 miles north of
London so my southern Horizon is pretty poluted anyway.


I too have a an old 6 inch newt on an old undriven EQ mount but
live in the Los Angeles suburbs. You can still do a lot in those
conditions. I've even tracked satellites by swinging the scope
around by hand. On the astro page of my website there is a video
I took of a rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB the other week.

http://www.skywise711.com/astro/index.html

But satellites are easier tracked with eyes or binos.


I guess what I am looking for is a predicition package that lets me put
in my own elements based on the Shenzhou 5 orbit but correcting for the
launch time.


There's much speculation as to even when Shenzou 6 will launch.
There's been discussion of this on the SeeSat forum.

Follow this link: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Oct-2005/0083.html


Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Tom



Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
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  #3  
Old October 12th 05, 01:40 PM
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I too have a an old 6 inch newt on an old undriven EQ mount...
...I took of a rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB the other week.


Cool, I'm impressed with those results.

But satellites are easier tracked with eyes or binos.


Yeah, that's my plan, I have an ancient RAF pair with a nice wide field
of view, I'll probably give them a go.

Follow this link: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Oct-2005/0083.html


Thanks for the link, like I say I'm new to satelite watching so it's
all good.

I notice heavens-above now has some orbit data for it, though I guess
the biggest problem with this is that it's likely to manouver some
more.

Thanks again

  #4  
Old October 12th 05, 02:08 PM
William R Thompson
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wrote:

I notice heavens-above now has some orbit data for it, though I guess
the biggest problem with this is that it's likely to manouver some more.


I just spotted Shenzhou 6, and the H-A prediction was within ten seconds
of its actual passage.

--Bill Thompson


  #5  
Old October 12th 05, 05:18 PM
Ted Molczan
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"William R Thompson" wrote in message
hlink.net...
wrote:

I notice heavens-above now has some orbit data for it, though I guess
the biggest problem with this is that it's likely to manouver some more.


I just spotted Shenzhou 6, and the H-A prediction was within ten seconds
of its actual passage.


Those were my pre-flight estimated elements. Shenzhou orbits do not come
within range of U.S. radars until quite a few hours after launch, so I
prepare estimates based on the orbits past missions. Each Shenzhou mission
has virtually the identical orbital inclination and dimensions, so it is not
surprising to achieve the accuracy you observed.

During their flight, Shenzhou spacecraft make periodic small orbital
adjustments to esentially negate the effects of drag, so I set the decay
terms of my elements to zero. This should result in accuracy well within one
minute of time throughout the mission. Nevertheless, I expect that H-A will
switch to the USSTRATCOM elsets, which began to appear several hours ago.

Ted Molczan


 




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