The merge of the STB ovals 'BE' and 'FA' happened in March 21, 2000. The approach to merge continued in March; the distance between ovals 'BE' and 'FA' was 11 degrees in March 3, 10 deg. in March 10, 8.5 deg. in March 15, and 7 deg. in March 20, 2000. This plot shows that the two ovals began to approach again each other from January, when the ovals passed through the GRS. The change of the distance is linear as expected. Figure shows the strip maps of STB ovals from July 1999 to March 2000. This map is plotted by special system-III.
In March 15, two ovals just contact each other, and expanded to the direction of longitude. In March 20, two ovals approached more. The 'FA' moves southward, and goes around the oval 'BE'.
To PageTop
|