Precursor Photometric Study of Astras Satellite Cluster 19.2$^\circ$ E for Geostationary Debris Profiling

Toyaj Singh

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arXiv · 1910.10847

Precursor Photometric Study of Astras Satellite Cluster 19.2$^\circ$ E for Geostationary Debris Profiling

Toyaj Singh

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Abstract

Aperture photometry was performed on images (from the SuperWASP instrument) of the 19.2$^\circ$E geostationary Astras satellite constellation over 5 nights to form light curves and predict model and movement parameters of the satellites. The 1KR satellite is observed to have two peaks, 90$^\circ$ out of phase indicating rotating wings, while satellite 1M is predicted to have shadowing due to dips in its light curve or a single wing design due to a single major peak. All satellites have peak magnitudes at the minimum sun phase angle 28$^\circ$ as expected. The developed methods and results serve a precursor to developing methods to address the ultimate goal of geostationary debris profiling.

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Toyaj Singh. 2019-10-24. Precursor Photometric Study of Astras Satellite Cluster 19.2$^\circ$ E for Geostationary Debris Profiling. https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10847

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