Mir sighting....but no Priroda
Krosney, Bill (BKrosney@richgreen.com)
Fri, 26 Apr 1996 19:21:20 +0100 (CET)
Had an acceptable passage of Mir last night:
Location: Winnipeg, CANADA, Lat. 49.85N, Long. 97.27W
Time: April 26 02:03 UT)
While it was only 24 minutes after sunset, Mir was spotted pretty well on
time based on a Quicksat prediction and the following elements downloaded
from the AFIT FTP site:
mir
1 16609U 86017A 96113.53775518 .00004796 00000-0 67925-4 0 8050
2 16609 51.6500 42.7763 0004084 221.3919 138.6926 15.57884966581348
I had no elements for Priroda. However, working with a prior SeeSat post of
Doug Biggerstaff's observation about 25 hours earlier:
Doug Biggerstaff, April 25 01:25 UT, trailing Mir by about 40d
I expected to see Mir and Priroda at least that close or probably closer
based on the (then) expected rendezvous within 12 hours.
However, Priroda could not be seen. I based my lack of sighting on the fact
that Priroda was a magnitude or two fainter than Mir and was just not naked
eye in the twilight sky. I couldn't scan with binoculars as I was holding
my 2-year old son in my arms at the time (got to get them out enjoying the
night sky early.... ;-) )
However, after reading some mail this morning I noticed the other following
observations:
Richard Keen, April 25 03:13 UT, trailing Mir by 14 minutes
Tristan Cools, April 25 19:57 UT, trailing Mir by 4m36s
Based on Tristan's observation, Priroda might of still been trailing Mir by
at least 4 minutes. I might of just given up and gone inside too early!
However, Richard Keen's observation is in stark contrast with Doug
Biggerstaff's. Doug's observation of a 40 degree separation is just not in
the "trailing Mir by 14 minutes" range.
Any comments on those two observations, and the lack of my sighting?
Clear skies....Bill
e-mail: bkrosney@richgreen.com (work)