Astra 2E: General Discussion (Post-Testing)

[Waveguide]

Clouds were a disapointment tonight, they reappeared when I turned my back.
City lights gave the haze an orange colour, sodium streetlights mostly.
Turning down the red and yellow channels when converting to black-and-white
increases the contrast somewhat but it's still $hit.


Anyway - no cigars tonight! No movements!
Todays positions are pink and added to yesterdays result.



Morris Dancing ... anyone ... ?

 

[skomedal]

Morris Dancing ... anyone ... ?

Always thought satellites performed a refined choreographed ballet

 

[Lazarus]

Can someone wake me up in early January?

 

[buckshee]

Can someone wake me up in early January?

2014 or 2015 ?

 

[solly]

we belive will be more news before end of this year

 

[cazhh]

we belive will be more news before end of this year

Good news or bad news ? ;)

 

[skomedal]

Good news or bad news ? ;)

Depends on where you are located ( uk does not count )

 

[M60]

Lets wait for our daily update from Waveguide, we might be in for a surprise but possibly not (cloud permitting!).

 

[timo_w2s]

Depends on where you are located ( uk does not count )

I was going to say the sooner 1N leaves the better for me since I can't get anything from 1N anyway, then I suddenly realised I hope it doesn't start to spoil my viewing of 19E next year...

 

[Waveguide]

Lets wait for our daily update from Waveguide, we might be in for a surprise but possibly not (cloud permitting!).

Only those south of the Alps will get pictures tonight, lots of clouds and possibly snow later this week.
We are preparing for the worst!

 

[cazhh]

Only those south of the Alps will get pictures tonight, lots of clouds and possibly snow later this week.
We are preparing for the worst!

View attachment 60078

I had 24h of thick fog here. sigh. At least now i have a compass and an anlge meter as well. but i guess i'll have to wait for more than a week now to test it :-(

 

[skomedal]

Only those south of the Alps will get pictures tonight, lots of clouds and possibly snow later this week.

Get some help from your morriss dancers :-

"" It was during this time of collection that it was popular to believe that morris dancing was connected to pre-Christian pagan religion (scaring evil spirits, fertility ritual, weather control and superstition) although there is no evidence to support this. ""

http://www.morrisoffspring.org.uk/what_morris.htm

 

[Waveguide]

@cazhh

If you have any questions (when the clouds have disappeared) feel free to ask,
there are both shortcuts and pitfalls. It's fun to be a "Watcher Of The Skies",
I find interesting "things" in a lot of images but they don't belong in
this discussion around 2E.

 

[cazhh]

@cazhh

If you have any questions (when the clouds have disappeared) feel free to ask,
there are both shortcuts and pitfalls. It's fun to be a "Watcher Of The Skies",
I find interesting "things" in a lot of images but they don't belong in
this discussion around 2E.

Thank you.
I think about buying a small telescope to make fotos of planets as well. Currently i try to get an overview about what is possible and how much i'd have to pay for it.
For now with the camera i have it's a bit of try and error i guess.
i've caught a plane already :-)

 

[gambit]

TLE updated - still no movement. That turkey's stuffed for Christmas.

Could some of 1N Freesat be switched to 2F?

 

[M60]

TLE updated - still no movement. That turkey's stuffed for Christmas.

Could some of 1N Freesat be switched to 2F?

2F can't go any lower than 11.0GHz so only 2E can do the job of replacing 1N. So much for SES PR with their mid December date, if that's the case it will have had to have started moving by now!

They've obviously decided to leave the status quo until after the Christmas/New Year period and do now wonder if they'll use this time to move the satellite or start it's move early January? Someone suggested only when 1H was in place at where ever it ends up (31.5E?) will they then start to move 2E but we'll find out.

 

[PaulR]

If they're really going to wait until next year to start transmission then I don't understand why they don't send it on a lazy path now thus saving fuel.

 

[M60]

If they're really going to wait until next year to start transmission then I don't understand why they don't send it on a lazy path now thus saving fuel.

That's exactly my thoughts too. If they want it there by early January then at 0.59W/day it would need to start moving by early next week. I do wonder whether there's an international agreement that there should be a safe distance between two satellites within a raised or lowered orbit?

 

[Pietclock]

Most likely testing is not finished yet. We just cannot follow what they are testing...

 

[sonnetpete]

Having looked at n2yo over the past week or so there's now over a 4 degree gap between 2E and 1H and a 36km difference in orbit height (obviously this differential varies) so if they wanted to move 2E I can't see what would stop them. Maybe they are still testing but just how many tests are they running, surely there's a limit?