Characteristics of small-sized space debris objects detected at the Terskol observatory in 2016-2017

Abstract

The study of near-Earth space includes the detection and investigation of an increasing number of space debris objects by ground-based optical telescopes. There is no natural cleansing of space in the geostationary region. The telescope Zeiss-2000 with a two-meter aperture of the Terskol observatory is the largest optical instrument regularly used for space debris investigations. One of the main purposes in «Astronomy in the Elbrus region» international program’s boundaries is the detection and characterization of small fragments of debris,which are invisible for smaller telescopes. During observations on photometric nights we usually detect 4-5 unknown fragments of 17-21st star magnitude. In this article, we present orbital parameters and physical characteristics of several small-sized fragments of the space debris detected at the Terskol observatory in 2016-2017.

Keywords

• space debris
• optical observations
• area-to-mass ratio
• brightness variations