"Pseudo-MPEC" for 1969-046D = NORAD 03954 = Vela 5a
Created 2020 Dec 23 22:26:16 UT using Find_Orb
Click here for an explanation of pseudo-MPECs
TLEs are available for this object, and for some of the other objects on these pages.
Click here for a graph of this object's inclination and perigee vs. time, from launch in 1969 to 2020. The orbital period has been roughly constant over that time, but due to the Kozai mechanism, there are big fluctuations in the inclination and eccentricity. The catalogued inclination at launch on 1969 Jul 22 was 33.13 degrees, with perigee at 110891 km, which is a good match (and was my first clue as to the possible identity of the object; it was only later that I was able to get a reasonably good match to recent Space-Track elements.)
The object was observed on two nights. When first found as ZTF02BI, the data were insufficient to even be sure that that it was really an artsat. Fortunately, it was found again from Hawaii and Australia five days later, and the orbit linked back nicely to the previous observations.
By December 2020, the object had not been observed for nearly two years. However, I found that an offset by 1.6 sigmas caused it to line up reasonably well with Space-Track TLEs from January 2017 and April 2020. With that adjustment, I was able to see that we had gotten data for the object, as JNS060, on 2020 October 22, resulting in the more definite elements shown below. We can now regard this as a securely tracked object, with data covering over 1.5 years.
Astrometry:
ZTF02BI C2019 01 07.18903903 59 59.98 -23 23 36.9 ~181E 15.80RUNEOCPI41
ZTF02BI C2019 01 07.18938704 00 00.92 -23 23 57.6 ~181E 15.80RUNEOCPI41
ZTF02BI C2019 01 07.25835704 03 35.31 -24 35 40.2 ~181E 15.54gUNEOCPI41
ZTF02BI C2019 01 07.25870404 03 36.38 -24 35 58.4 ~181E 15.54gUNEOCPI41
A10boIy C2019 01 12.38828704 45 59.79 -31 21 39.7 ~1CJF 16.56oVNEOCPT08
A10boIy C2019 01 12.39338704 46 12.10 -31 24 41.9 ~1CJF 16.57oVNEOCPT08
A10boIy C2019 01 12.40264704 46 35.09 -31 30 05.5 ~1CJF 16.76oVNEOCPT08
JNS023 C2019 01 12ht$N^V=GJlt5y^#DFkt/`o.69%iD$/2$)kRAGIhq`;!9!c3d#)r:Q66
JNS023 C2019 01 12vQ)@/8,4uw@pDD^p:U0/V(I1F6vIsHcoli/^vw3Mr)rBBVw,?-5hQ66
JNS023 C2019 01 12[Yn*R=HH=nkSg$@ovJAllcCoAPAstrometry^0H?i=$u4Lw+@i1MQ66
JNS023 C2019 01 120in%?rF1c3a3Ukqredacted;?m7bdo7xA5);$clickoi4^7nX/niQ66
JNS060 * C2020 10 22'XWhEf3_-GE^CCM'_QP(@h?hF(\6/nGQ93dVrD=si@1g=_HVjx80Q66
JNS060 C2020 10 22fWx395#H)JyC7=ycbp\+6Gr.,@QrWa_4:r(OOPXy*Uj!.S=%5Io6Q66
JNS060 C2020 10 22u#CpBthyhere5Mg)yo2NE'^q_/$W4m)*Uafor'K)Un\DuINOs`WMQ66
JNS060 C2020 10 22+_explanation1`0Joi']\a@f='GBdjFGfJO;w5rJu1[5v+*e3A!Q66
Station data:
(I41) Palomar Mountain--ZTF (N33.357340 W116.859780) US/California. 1.2-m
f/2.44 Oschin Schmidt + CCD.
(Q66) Siding Spring-Janess-G, JAXA (S31.273299 E149.064250) Australia/NSW.
(T08) ATLAS-MLO, Mauna Loa (N19.536152 W155.576050) US/Hawaii. Observers
L. Denneau, A. Heinze, H. Weiland, J. Tonry, H. Flewelling, A.
Fitzsimmons, D. Young, B. Stalder. Measurers L. Denneau, A. Heinze, J.
Tonry. 0.5-m f/2.0 Schmidt + CCD.
Orbital elements: 1969-046D = NORAD 03954 = Vela 5a
Perigee 2020 Oct 22.06064632 +/- 5.89e-5 TT = 1:27:19.842 (JD 2459144.56064632)
Epoch 2020 Oct 22.0 TT = JDT 2459144.5 Find_Orb
M 355.30807331338 +/- 0.0046 (J2000 equator)
n 77.36539552738 +/- 9.91e-5 Peri. 88.29813576 +/- 0.00043
a117735.022930 +/- 0.101 Node 155.98931906 +/- 0.0023
e 0.8640905794 +/- 1.07e-5 Incl. 31.81659402 +/- 0.0017
P6700.54m/4.653d H 29.7 G 0.15 U 6.6
q 16001.2987443 +/- 1.26 Q 219468.747116 +/- 1.25
From 15 observations 2019 Jan. 7-2020 Oct. 22; mean residual 1".644
Residuals in arcseconds: 190107 I41 .612- .674+ 190112 T08 1.03- 1.24- 190112 Q66 1.22- 1.96+ 190107 I41 2.52- 3.60+ 190112 T08 1.99- .510- 201022 Q66 .886+ 2.66- 190107 I41 .480- .743+ 190112 Q66 1.51+ .611- 201022 Q66 .355+ .665- 190107 I41 1.03- 2.29+ 190112 Q66 1.30+ .122- 201022 Q66 1.46+ .482+ 190112 T08 .015+ 2.88- 190112 Q66 1.75- 1.96+ 201022 Q66 3.31+ .468+ Ephemerides (geocentric): Date (UTC) HH RA Dec delta elong mag " sig PA ---- -------- ------------ ------------ ------ ----- --- -------- 2020 10 22 00 10 37 37.746 +02 06 52.30 27461 48.9 16?? 481 57 2020 10 22 01 13 34 52.652 +24 39 21.68 17553 35.8 17?? 1185 69 2020 10 22 02 19 35 06.796 +22 36 59.84 18494 91.5 13.2 1064 113 2020 10 22 03 22 11 00.647 +01 59 24.07 28909 125.6 13.1 433 123 2020 10 22 04 23 17 09.516 -08 08 19.56 40099 137.9 13.4 223 122 2020 10 22 05 23 56 12.155 -13 40 27.80 50535 142.9 13.8 138 121 2020 10 22 06 00 23 12.962 -17 09 25.77 60149 144.8 14.1 96.3 119 2020 10 22 07 00 43 37.387 -19 33 49.14 69043 145.4 14.4 71.9 118 2020 10 22 08 00 59 54.992 -21 20 08.29 77319 145.4 14.6 56.3 117 2020 10 22 09 01 13 25.720 -22 42 03.25 85063 145.1 14.9 45.6 115 2020 10 22 10 01 24 56.887 -23 47 19.97 92342 144.6 15.1 38.0 114 2020 10 22 11 01 34 58.631 -24 40 43.31 99210 144.0 15.2 32.2 113 2020 10 22 12 01 43 51.244 -25 25 17.61 105711 143.3 15.4 27.7 111 2020 10 22 13 01 51 48.989 -26 03 07.70 111878 142.7 15.5 24.2 110 2020 10 22 14 01 59 02.249 -26 35 41.29 117743 142.1 15.7 21.4 109 2020 10 22 15 02 05 38.802 -27 04 01.90 123329 141.5 15.8 19.0 107 2020 10 22 16 02 11 44.614 -27 28 56.76 128657 140.9 15.9 17.1 106 2020 10 22 17 02 17 24.356 -27 51 01.72 133745 140.3 16.0 15.4 104 2020 10 22 18 02 22 41.749 -28 10 44.57 138609 139.7 16.1 14.0 103 2020 10 22 19 02 27 39.802 -28 28 27.15 143261 139.2 16.2 12.8 101 2020 10 22 20 02 32 20.984 -28 44 26.93 147714 138.7 16.2 11.7 99 2020 10 22 21 02 36 47.340 -28 58 58.02 151978 138.1 16.3 10.8 98 2020 10 22 22 02 41 00.586 -29 12 11.98 156061 137.6 16.4 10.0 96 2020 10 22 23 02 45 02.175 -29 24 18.34 159973 137.2 16.5 9.32 94 2020 10 23 00 02 48 53.345 -29 35 25.08 163721 136.7 16.5 8.70 92 2020 10 23 01 02 52 35.165 -29 45 38.88 167311 136.2 16.6 8.15 90 2020 10 23 02 02 56 08.557 -29 55 05.42 170749 135.8 16.6 7.67 88 2020 10 23 03 02 59 34.328 -30 03 49.54 174041 135.4 16.7 7.24 86 2020 10 23 04 03 02 53.186 -30 11 55.39 177191 134.9 16.7 6.86 83 2020 10 23 05 03 06 05.756 -30 19 26.57 180204 134.5 16.8 6.52 81 2020 10 23 06 03 09 12.593 -30 26 26.19 183085 134.1 16.8 6.22 79 2020 10 23 07 03 12 14.191 -30 32 56.96 185836 133.7 16.9 5.96 76 2020 10 23 08 03 15 10.994 -30 39 01.26 188462 133.3 16.9 5.73 74 2020 10 23 09 03 18 03.401 -30 44 41.18 190965 133.0 17.0 5.52 71 2020 10 23 10 03 20 51.774 -30 49 58.56 193349 132.6 17.0 5.35 69 2020 10 23 11 03 23 36.441 -30 54 55.03 195615 132.2 17.0 5.19 66 2020 10 23 12 03 26 17.701 -30 59 32.05 197767 131.9 17.1 5.06 64 2020 10 23 13 03 28 55.829 -31 03 50.90 199807 131.5 17.1 4.95 62 2020 10 23 14 03 31 31.076 -31 07 52.73 201736 131.2 17.1 4.86 59 2020 10 23 15 03 34 03.676 -31 11 38.57 203557 130.8 17.2 4.78 57 2020 10 23 16 03 36 33.842 -31 15 09.33 205272 130.5 17.2 4.72 55 2020 10 23 17 03 39 01.776 -31 18 25.84 206882 130.1 17.2 4.67 53 2020 10 23 18 03 41 27.664 -31 21 28.83 208388 129.8 17.2 4.63 51 2020 10 23 19 03 43 51.682 -31 24 18.97 209793 129.5 17.3 4.60 49 2020 10 23 20 03 46 13.993 -31 26 56.84 211096 129.2 17.3 4.59 47 2020 10 23 21 03 48 34.754 -31 29 22.98 212300 128.8 17.3 4.58 45 2020 10 23 22 03 50 54.111 -31 31 37.86 213406 128.5 17.3 4.58 43 2020 10 23 23 03 53 12.204 -31 33 41.90 214413 128.2 17.3 4.58 42 2020 10 24 00 03 55 29.166 -31 35 35.48 215324 127.9 17.4 4.60 40 2020 10 24 01 03 57 45.126 -31 37 18.93 216139 127.6 17.4 4.62 39 2020 10 24 02 04 00 00.207 -31 38 52.53 216858 127.2 17.4 4.64 37 2020 10 24 03 04 02 14.527 -31 40 16.56 217482 126.9 17.4 4.67 36 2020 10 24 04 04 04 28.202 -31 41 31.22 218012 126.6 17.4 4.70 35 2020 10 24 05 04 06 41.344 -31 42 36.70 218448 126.3 17.4 4.74 34 2020 10 24 06 04 08 54.064 -31 43 33.15 218791 126.0 17.4 4.78 33 2020 10 24 07 04 11 06.469 -31 44 20.70 219040 125.7 17.5 4.83 32 2020 10 24 08 04 13 18.666 -31 44 59.45 219196 125.4 17.5 4.88 31 2020 10 24 09 04 15 30.761 -31 45 29.44 219259 125.1 17.5 4.93 31 2020 10 24 10 04 17 42.858 -31 45 50.74 219229 124.7 17.5 4.99 30 2020 10 24 11 04 19 55.064 -31 46 03.34 219106 124.4 17.5 5.05 29