Re: [guide-user] Satellite troubles

B. Hudgens Jun 2, 2002

Hi Bill,

Well, the great mystery has been solved. With egg on face, I will fess
up to operator error :)
I had the limit mag at default 6 DUH... should have caught that on the
first night, but all is well now. Set the mag limit to 9 and many many
more, including # 32, are on the list. The date I mentioned was
confusing... should have been Sunday 6-2 local time.

I have found that the Guide predicts on the sats. is right in line with what
I observe within a few seconds as the sat goes by Gamma Boo or some other
naked eye star position.

Thanks for the additional info.

By the way, I gave the show and tell about Guide at the astro meeting last
month and know of only one user in this area, Ric Honey. Are there others
nearby? The program was well received and it really got their attention
after I show many of the features and then mentioned the selling price as
compared to the other programs available.

Later, Ben


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill J Gray" <pluto@...>
To: <guide-user@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2002 11:57 AM
Subject: [guide-user] Satellite troubles


> Hi Ben,
>
> General-purpose comments about things that can cause Guide to
> appear to have errors of this sort for solar-system objects are at
>
> http://www.projectpluto.com/faq_curr.htm#positions
>
> I've a slight edge on others reading this list: your address is
> in my mailing database, and I was therefore able to enter your ZIP
> code under "Settings... Location... Enter Location Name." (Guide
> will recognize a five-digit number as a US postal code, and a
> three-digit number as a Minor Planet Center observatory code.
> Persons outside the US are not so fortunate; I don't have lists of
> postal code vs. lat/lon for the rest of the world.) The resulting
> position was W 89.90, N 35.11.
>
> Using this, and setting the date to 22:53 CDT on Sunday, 2 June
> (a.k.a. 3:53 UT on Monday, 3 June), I get Iridium 32 as being at
> altitude 11.2 degrees, azimuth 47.8 degrees. Since you mention
> "Sunday, 3 June" in your message, I'd recommend checking the
> date/time in Guide. Also, it would be good to right-click on a
> satellite, then "more info", and look at the "epoch of elements"
> to make sure that it is at least reasonably current.
>
> A few nights ago, I set up Guide to show a full-sky overhead
> view with satellites to mag 4.5, and went outside with binoculars
> and tracked a few as they went by. This is not a wonderful test of
> accuracy, since it's at the level of "Satellite X should be going
> past Gamma Boo right now... yup, there it is." More precise tests
> done by others show a good match to actual satellite behavior.
>
> -- Bill
>
>
>
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