[amsat-bb] Re: AO-51 obseved solar eclipse?

[Mark L. Hammond]

Hello Masahiro,

Thank you for your message!  You have made a great observation, and I
think you are exactly right about the cause of the observed "glitches"
in the telemetry.  Usually at this point in its orbit we would observe
AO-51 charging its batteries at a steady rate from fully illuminated
panels.

>From what I've read from page 43 here:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpubs/2010/TP214171a.pdf  the eclipse
was from 18:15 to 20:52 UTC.    Look also at the areas experiencing
eclipse.

Please be aware that the "clock" on AO-51 runs fast.  It is now about
3 minutes fast, so look at telemetry timestamped from about 18:18
until 20:55 UTC.

Since the duration of the solar eclipse was 2 hrs 39 min (or 159 mins)
and AO-51 orbits every 100 minutes or so, it could have been affected
two times.

I've plotted some of the telemetry collected from that period
(telemetry from 1800-2130utc)  and posted it here:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/telemetry/ao51/2010WOD/July2010/Wd071100_1800to2130utc_solar_eclipse.xls

And here's a screenshot of AO-51 at the time:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/telemetry/ao51/2010WOD/July2010/ao51_11July2010_2045utc_solar_eclipse.jpg

73!

Mark N8MH



2010/7/13 Masahiro Arai <m-arai at a.email.ne.jp>:
>
> Total solar eclipse was observed in southern Pacific Ocean at 11th
> July. I checked AO-51 WOD file. Total Array I shows glitch at
> 2043-2045z. AO-51 was located on east of Argentina at the time. Is
> this glitch made with solar eclipse??
>
>
> AO-51 Wd071100
> 2010/7/11
> UTC    Total Array I [mA]
> 20:35   -2.111
> 20:36   -0.323
> 20:37   -0.323
> 20:38    1.465
> 20:39   -0.323
> 20:40  528.851
> 20:41  321.472
> 20:42  307.170
> 20:43  183.815
> 20:44  190.966
> 20:45  176.664
> 20:46  249.962
> 20:47  300.019
> 20:48  396.557
> 20:49  498.459
> 20:50  519.912
> 20:51  729.079
> 20:52  634.328
> 20:53  936.458
> 20:54  843.495
> 20:55  948.972
>
>
> WOD file
> ftp://ftp.amsat.org/pub/amsat/telemetry/ao51/2010WOD/July2010/Wd071100
>
> AO-51 WOD decoder
> http://tinyurl.com/DK3WNsoftware
>
>
> 73
>
> Masa  JN1GKZ    Tokyo Japan
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>



-- 
Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]