Re: Observations Friday Evening: No Lacrosse 1
Bjoern Gimle (b_gimle@algonet.se)
Thu, 17 Apr 1997 22:29:33 +0200
>> Robert Sheaffer wrote:
>>
>> Rob Matson suggested that the satellite I saw the previous night on a path
>> nearly that predicted for Lacrosse 1 may have been #5730, Aureole 1 rocket.
>> While the observed object was approx 1.5 magnitudes brighter than predicted
>> for Aureole, that is most likely what I saw. >>
>>
Eric Vondra :
>> I observed Aureole 1r on 2/23/97. It varied between mag 5.5 and 8.5 in about
>> a 3 second period, if that helps to confirm your ID.
>>
>
>Actually, it tends to *disconfirm* it. The object I saw was only
>observed for about 15 seconds. Its magnitude was MUCH brighter
>than that (around 2.8 - 3.0), and it was steady.
>
The orbit for the suggested Aureole 1r, moving right and down through
Virgo on Apr.11 at 03:53, I looked at is:
Aureole 1 r 7.4 2.4 0.0 5.5 v
1 05730U 71119B 97 98.73675080 .00001492 00000-0 13617-3 0 294
2 05730 73.9199 337.8595 0978544 182.1047 177.5790 13.36193883194381
Jim Varney also saw a bright (fast) unknown on Apr.13 03:48 UTC
near Orion's belt. This is very well satisfied by :
SL-6 R/B(1)
1 24294U 96050D 97101.13468989 .00086632 78778-5 53480-3 0 2383
2 24294 62.7581 341.7174 0461652 140.8202 222.7299 15.00761163 33380
Robert is skeptical because #05730 is usually much fainter.
Here is a bogus claim for Robert to debunk :
I would so much like for these two to be explained by the same object,
and for this to be a Lacrosse1 orbit, altered Mar.24-27 (?) when
Russell Eberst lost it.
While it is easy to find an orbit which fits the two observations
- it would have mean motion near 15.01 (like #24294 !) or 15.51 or ..-
it took many hours to fit a single orbit change 970324-27 of Lacrosse 1
to fit both. A small change fits Robert's, but does not appear in the
West, or too high, for Jim's because precession is too small.
( A 15.01 Lacrosse 1 near perigee is still 16 degrees higher than Orion)
A lower perigee like #24294 is in shadow for Robert's obs.
A 15.51 Lacrosse 1 with a suitable AOP (I added n*30 degrees) works
fine, but goes almost vertically down to Corvus for Robert's.
(Aureole 1 r is about midway between the vertical and original Lacrosse 1)
88106 B 97103-150
1 19671U 88106 B 97103.13464606 .00003800 00000-0 56900-5 0 38
2 19671 56.9763 336.1234 0372855 037.0528 322.5202 15.51176045 5431
88106 B 97103+60
1 19671U 88106 B 97103.13464606 .00003800 00000-0 56900-5 0 38
2 19671 56.9763 336.1234 0372855 247.0528 112.5202 15.51176045 5431
They were separated from the original Lacrosse 1 orbit of around Mar.25:
88106 B 97084.344
1 19671U 88106 B 97084.34433668 .00001035 00000-0 56900-5 0 11
2 19671 56.9770 58.4364 0010000 149.9997 210.1598 14.70734765 2490
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