[TerminallyTired (Jason)]

No problem Xcoupeb, you are most welcome.

Steve your sat is:

CZ-3C R/B - Chinese Long March Rocket Body - Norad ID: 36288

NORAD ID: 36288
Int'l Code: 2010-001B
Perigee: 247.8 km
Apogee: 35,319.0 km
Inclination: 19.7°
Period: 622.7 min
Semi major axis: 24,154.4 km
Launch date: January 16, 2010
Source: People's Republic of China (PRC)

This is a long march rocket body left over from the launch of Beidou G3.

BEIDOU G3 is the third member of the second-generation Beidou constellation. Two spacecraft were launched to medium Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit in 2007 and 2009, respectively. BEIDOU G3 has been placed on a geosynchronous orbit.

Beidou 3 is also known as Compass G1. A Chinese navigation satellite intended to form part of an eventual system, also known as Compass, composed of 35 satellites in geostationary and medium altitude orbits. Beidou 3 was launched by a Long March 3C rocket from Xichang at 16:12 UT on 16 January 2010.

The Compass system is expected to be operational for Asian-Pacific users by 2012 and to global users by 2020. The positional accuracy for civilian users is expected to be about 10 m.

The Rocket Body itself is in a highly elliptical orbit. When you took your photos your range to the satellite was approximately 27108km.

I have attached a picture of the entire rocket assembly. Your sat will be the 3rd stage, 3m in diameter and 12m long. It is the stage just below the bulbous payload fairing in the photo. The entire rocket assembly pictured is 54m in length.

L8r

TT