Identity of NEWLY DISCOVERED SYNC FLASHER

Jay Respler (jrespler@injersey.com)
Sat, 2 Aug 1997 03:01:24 -0400 (EDT)

>I don't think Jay saw GE-1 (1996-54A).  But I do think he saw something
>even more fascinating - Telstar 401 (1993-77A).  It's currently at 102.2
>degrees, and drifting .4 degrees West each day.  It looks like we've got
>another Superbird situation with the entire world having the opportunity to
>see a derelict out-of-control satellite as it drifts West each day!

Sorry, but it was GE-1. Using current elements, HIGHFLY shows that GE and
Telstar were about 5 minutes apart at that time and .3 deg different in
declination. That's too far off to get mixed up. Also Telstar is mag 10 while
GE was mag 12. It is easy to confuse sync sats. Therefore, when looking for
them, I predict for everything in orbit that may possibly be seen. I sort the
HIGHFLY output by azimuth. When I look for a particular object, I'll check for
any other sats that may be in the area.  This greatly decreases chances of
misidentification. Here are predictions for that date:

   40.283  74.233  129.      JAY RESPLER           1950 11.9 10
*** 1997 Jul 11/12   Fri evening/Sat morning  *** Times are EDT
Hrs Min  Alt Azi  Mag    Hgt    R  A    Dec  Range
 
NCT 22927 Telstar401 m10              M 3.5 ELDY -9 M2   -1
 11  32   36 219 11.9  22248  15 49.0  -5.8  23691
 11  32.7                     15 49.7  -5.8
NCT 24315 9654A v20sMg12              M 3.5 ELDY -9 M2    0
 11  38   35 220 11.9  22246  15 49.7  -6.1  23733

>Now Jay, couldn't you have spotted this several months ago when I could
>have used that information in my article on the death of Telstar 401????

I had seen Telstar, but it was before it ran into trouble. I was going to look
for it again but Mike already reported on it so I didn't bother.
But since it's still being discussed, I just looked for them again. They are
now in the same field of view.  Just as I was finding them in the eyepiece,
Telstar was flaring much brighter than normal. I didn't even see GE at first.
After finding both of them, I tracked them for several minutes with neither
sat showing any variable behavior.  After all this, I don't know why GE varied
slightly last time, but since there were a couple of cycles, it was something
that actually occurred.
These predictions were used for observations:

   40.283  74.233  129.      JAY RESPLER           1950 11.8 25
*** 1997 Jul 31/ 1   Thu evening/Fri morning  *** Times are EDT
Hrs Min  Alt Azi  Mag    Hgt    R  A    Dec  Range
NCT 24315 9654A v20sMg12              M 3.5 ELDY 11 M2    0 
  2  20   35 220 11.7  22248  19 51.1  -6.3  23733
  2  30   35 220 11.7  22248  20  1.1  -6.3  23733
  2  40   35 220 11.6  22248  20 11.2  -6.3  23733
  2  50   35 220 11.6  22248  20 21.2  -6.3  23733

NCT 22927 Telstar401m10              M 3.5 ELDY 11 M2   -1   
  2  20   35 220 11.7  22251  19 52.2  -6.5  23740
  2  30   35 220 11.7  22251  20  2.2  -6.6  23741
  2  40   35 220 11.7  22251  20 12.2  -6.6  23741
  2  50   35 220 11.6  22251  20 22.3  -6.6  23742

>I believe there's a JPG of the satellite at the Skynet web page.  Look for
>Telstar 402R (its sister satellite).  

I have a .BMP of Telstar 401 that I can convert and send as .GIF to anyone.


>If you want to help keep me in business, check out the March/April 1997
>issue of "Satellite Times" for my story on the Telstar 401 failure.
>
>Philip Chien 

Philip writes good stuff, so check his article and keep him and SATELLITE
TIMES in business.


Jay Respler
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                JRespler@InJersey.com
     Satellite Tracker * Early Typewriter Collector
                Freehold,  New Jersey