Harvard Astronomers Spot Missing Satellite

Harvard astronomers at the Boyden Observatory in Bloemfontein, South Africa, have located Syncom I, the communications satellite that has been lost since Feb. 14.

Donald A. Menzel, director of the Harvard College Observatory and organizer of the satellite search, said that early last week observers at Boyden noticed an object which appeared to be the satellite. At that time the National Aeronautics and Space Administration asked Harvard to determine whether the object was Syncom I.

After the initial sighting, Harvard astronomers at Boyden were in hour by hour communication with NASA until confirmation was finally made Saturday. Confirmation would have come earlier, Menzel said, if it had not been for adverse weather conditions last week.

Syncom I was lost five hours after its Feb. 14 launching from Cape Canaveral, when it suddenly stopped emitting signals. The satellite was designed to test the feasibility of controlling communication satellites in 24-hour orbits.

"Our next task is to determine the definitive orbit for Syncom I," Menzel said. "The satellite may be repairable, but that will be a job for NASA technicians and not for us."

To locate the satellite, the astronomers used photographs taken with the Boyden Observatory's special Baker - Schmidt camera, designed by James G. Baker, Research Associate in the Harvard College Observatory. The camera is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Menzel said that the satellite is visible only to observers in South Africa and nearby areas because it is circling the earth in an orbit synchronized with the earth's rotation. The orbit is tilted about 30 degrees to the equator which makes the satellite appear to trace a figure-eight once every 24 hours.

Syncom I is orbiting at an average height of 22,000 miles. At this height its brightness is of the 17th magnitude, or 25,000 times fainter than the dimmest object that can be seen by the naked eye.