One possible, one unknown
rickmcq@mindspring.com
Thu, 03 Apr 1997 22:56:55 -0600
Tonight I was out looking at the comet, and the sky in general, when
two satellites caught my attention. I had not planned to spot
satellites so I was unprepared. I think I may have nailed the first
one but the second is a mystery. First, the essentials:
I am located at 38.7507 north lat. by -93.9865 west lon.. The time I
spotted the first satellite was approximately 02:23 UTC. Using Ted
Molczans elset file molc361, I am pretty sure that the first
satellite, traveling from south to north, was Resurs 1-3r (#23343).
The sat traveled just a couple of degrees under the first star in the
handle of the Big Dipper. The time and predicted path using SatSpy
was an exact match.
The second satellite came into view traveling from south to north in
almost the same path as Resurs 1-3r two minutes later(02:25 utc). I
can find no satellite in the elsets that match this sighting. The
closest match is Meteor 2-14 (#16735) but the time for Meteor is wrong
by about five minutes at 02:30 UTC.
Obviously, I am an amateur at spotting satellites. I hope I have
given you enough information in trying to help me find out who the
second satellite was. One other item, SatSpy just told me that the
star that both of these satellites grazed, two minutes apart, was
LAMBOO 4.2
Thank you
Rick