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

[Mark L. Hammond]

Very interesting, Alex!  Thank you for sharing that video.

73,

Mark N8MH 

At 08:37 PM 7/14/2010 +0200, Alexandru Csete wrote:
>Greetings,
>
>I ran a simulation using the Celestia space simulator and could indeed
>observe a partial solar eclipse as seen from AO-51 :)
>I have recorded the simulation to a video and you can watch it on
>Youtube:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ET8BhbqmVk
>
>I couldn't find any 3d model of AO-51 so I used a model of AO-7 - sorry
>for that. Also note that I used TLEs from today to generate orbital
>data for Celestia so the time and may not be scientifically accurate.
>
>If you want to run the simulation for yourself, watch from other
>angles, etc., you can get Celestia for free from
>http://shatters.net/celestia/
>You'll need to add the data files for AO-51 in the "extras" folder;
>you can use mine to begin with. There is a .zip file here:
>http://files.oz9aec.net/video/SolarEclipse/
>
>You'll also find the H.264 encoded video there that you are free to
>download (~100MB).
>
>73
>Alex Oz9AEC
>
>
>On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:10:41 -0400
>"Mark L. Hammond" <marklhammond at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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 Â  Â Total Array I [mA]
>> > 20:35 Â  -2.111
>> > 20:36 Â  -0.323
>> > 20:37 Â  -0.323
>> > 20:38 Â  Â 1.465
>> > 20:39 Â  -0.323
>> > 20:40 Â 528.851
>> > 20:41 Â 321.472
>> > 20:42 Â 307.170
>> > 20:43 Â 183.815
>> > 20:44 Â 190.966
>> > 20:45 Â 176.664
>> > 20:46 Â 249.962
>> > 20:47 Â 300.019
>> > 20:48 Â 396.557
>> > 20:49 Â 498.459
>> > 20:50 Â 519.912
>> > 20:51 Â 729.079
>> > 20:52 Â 634.328
>> > 20:53 Â 936.458
>> > 20:54 Â 843.495
>> > 20:55 Â 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
>> >
>> >
>> >
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>> 
>> 
>> 


Mark L. Hammond  [N8MH]