Low LEO optical tracking observations with small telescopes

In 2018 the 6 Remote Observatories for Asteroid and Debris Searching (6ROADS) and the Astronomical Observatory of Adam Mickiewicz University (AO AMU) performed a joint observing campaign of low LEO objects – very fast targets, difficult to observe for optical SST sensors. Two small, highly automatic telescopes have been used during the campaign: 0.7m RBT/PST2 in USA (AO AMU) and 0.4m Solaris Observatory in Poland (6ROADS). We present the analysis of astrometric data collected during the campaign, which includes the quality of objects' orbital parameters, determined from observations, as a function of the observation arc length, number of astrometric observations and force models taken into account in orbit determination. In particular, the influence of the atmospheric drag perturbations is analyzed in terms of the applied atmospheric model and the area to mass S/M ratio of the observed object.