Motion and Shape Determination of LEO DebrisUsing Optical Telescope

摘要

We succeeded in determining a tri-axial ellipsoidmodel of one LEO debris, its rotational axis'direction in the celestial sphere, a compositionalparameter and its rotation period using only lightcurve data that was taken by an optical telescope.The brightness of the LEO debris was monitored for6 days. The method of least squares is applied todetermine these values. The derived axial ratios ofthe LEO debris is 100:18:15, the coordinates of therotational axis' direction in celestial sphere are R.A.= 314 degrees and Dec = 8 degrees and its rotationperiod is 43 seconds. These results show opticaltelescopes are sufficient to determine the shape andthe motion of LEO debris.