DASO Circular No. 64                            Issued: 2006 Aug. 30, 19:56 UT

        The DISTANT ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES OBSERVATION (DASO) Circulars
         are a private publication by staff of the Minor Planet Center
          and are intended to disseminate astrometric observations of
                         distant artificial satellites.

             Editor: Gareth V. Williams (gwilliams@cfa.harvard.edu)
    Astrometry submissions to mpc@cfa.harvard.edu (Subject line = "ART SAT")

Observations:
6Q0844E       C2006 08 30.05132 23 32 02.94 -16 09 23.2          19.5 V D0064J77
6Q0B44E       C2006 08 29.99762 23 31 31.22 -15 58 24.8          20.4 R D0064J95
6Q0B44E       C2006 08 30.00672 23 31 36.44 -16 00 19.1          19.8 R D0064J95

Observer details:
J77 Golden Hill Observatory, Stourton Caundle.  Observer R. Miles.  0.28-m
    f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain + CCD.
J95 Great Shefford.  Observer P. Birtwhistle.  0.40-m f/6.0 Schmidt-Cassegrain
    + CCD.

Orbital elements:
6Q0B44E
Epoch 2006 Sept. 22.0 TT = JDT 2454000.5                MPC
M 280.66350              (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.97259346     Peri.   23.08902     +0.14287985     -0.98972587
a   1.0089008      Node    58.69683     +0.90709901     +0.12880711
e   0.0310167      Incl.    0.35517     +0.39592516     +0.06205992
P   1.01           H   30.5           G   0.15           U   5
Residuals in seconds of arc
K068S  703  0.4-  0.4+    K068S  673  0.8+  0.4+    K068T  703  0.8-  0.9-
K068S  703  0.7+  0.8-    K068S  673  1.3+  0.4-    K068T  703  0.5+  1.2-
K068S  703  0.3+  1.1-    K068S  E12  0.6+  0.2+    K068T  703  0.5+  0.5-
K068S  703  0.3+  0.9-    K068S  673  0.3+  0.6+    K068T  703  0.4-  1.3+
K068S  703  1.9-  2.0+    K068S  673  0.1+  0.0     K068T  703  0.6-  1.3-
K068S  703  0.5+  1.2+    K068S  E12  0.0   0.5-    K068T  J95  0.2+  0.2-
K068S  703  0.1+  0.5-    K068S  E12  0.9+  0.0     K068U  J95  0.1-  0.7+
K068S  703  1.1-  0.4+    K068T  703  0.5+  0.2+    K068U  J77  1.4+  1.4-

  The above orbital elements show perigees around 2006 Jan. 19 (geocentric
distance 0.00282 AU), Mar. 27 (0.00420 AU), June 1 (0.00302 AU), Aug. 19
(0.00411 AU) and Oct. 19 (0.00341 AU).  Apogees occur around 2006 Feb. 18
(0.00625 AU), May 3 (0.00600 AU), July 5 (0.00636 AU), Sept. 19 (0.00617 AU)
and Nov. 29 (0.00643 AU).  While extrapolation of past motion is still
subject to considerable uncertainty, this object does seem to have spent
several years orbiting the earth-moon system.  This latest orbit shows that
the object was captured in early 2001, while the orbit on DASO 63 indicates
capture in early 2000.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  The DISTANT ARTIFICAL-SATELLITES OBSERVERS Circulars are prepared as   |
|  a private publication by staff of the Minor Planet Center.             |
|  Back issues are available at: ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/DASO/      |
|  Archives of published (and referenceable) observations are at:         |
|  ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/DASO/Obs/                                |
|  Http access available at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~gwilliams/DASO/   |
|  Free e-mail subscriptions: send your e-mail address to the editor.     |
|  Astrometry submission to mpc@cfa.harvard.edu with subject "ART SAT".   |
|  These circulars are copyrighted publications, but free use of any and  |
|  all information contained herein may be made provided that the normal  |
|  scientific procedures for referencing material are followed.           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

DASO Circular No. 64                            Issued: 2006 Aug. 30, 19:56 UT