[Neocp_artsats] ZTF0KSa = artsat, possibly = ZTF0K7X
Bill Gray
pluto at projectpluto.com
Tue Feb 9 08:35:12 EST 2021
If I try to fit a barely hyperbolic (from the geocentric
viewpoint) orbit to this, the cross-track residuals for the
last two observations go from ~0.4 arcsec to over 1.1 arcsec,
and the overall fit is quite poor.
I think this is a repeat of ZTF0K7X, an object observed
over 70 seconds a month ago (elements below). In neither case
do we have a particularly good orbit, and this could be
coincidence (less likely) or two bits launched into a similar
orbit that haven't drifted apart all that much (more likely).
Putting the fact that a non-junk orbit results in really
bad residuals, plus the similarity to an earlier object,
is enough to diagnose it as junk in my mind.
-- Bill
Orbital elements: ZTF0KSa
Perigee 2021 Feb 8.64677932 +/- 0.372 TT = 15:31:21.733 (JD 2459254.14677932)
Epoch 2021 Feb 9.0 TT = JDT 2459254.5 Gray
M 93.72873500240 +/- 60 (J2000 equator)
n 265.35460892881 +/- 125 Peri. 352.22851106 +/- 22
a 51766.9306887 +/- 16277 Node 330.79644633 +/- 0.6
e 0.3137838238 +/- 0.249 Incl. 36.09541733 +/- 0.9
P1953.58m/1.357d H 32.7 G 0.15 U 16.0
q 35523.3052266 +/- 24035 Q 68010.5561507 +/- 8519
From 4 observations 2021 Feb. 9 (3.0 hr); mean residual 0".497
Orbital elements: ZTF0K7X
Perigee 2021 Jan 13.10186186 +/- 37.4 TT = 2:26:40.864 (JD 2459227.60186186)
Epoch 2021 Jan 14.0 TT = JDT 2459228.5 Gray
M 156.34045455543 +/- 29 (J2000 equator)
n 174.07172376928 +/- 0.274 Peri. 335.51641787 +/- 60
a 68567.4533177 +/- 3.29e+7 Node 320.06006902 +/- 70
e 0.7016322563 +/- 0.161 Incl. 40.80376090 +/- 2.9
P2978.03m/2.068d H 32.1 G 0.15 U 11.9 SR
q 20458.3163348 +/- 2.41e+7 Q 116676.590300 +/- 1.48e+8
From 4 observations 2021 Jan. 14 (70.1 sec); mean residual 1".363
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