Re: Gorizont 23 flash period 1% decrease
Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Thu, 07 Aug 1997 08:56:08
I need some corporate memory help. Either earlier this year or late
last year, I think several folks observed a geosync flasher that had
a decreasing period. Was that Gorizont 23 or another satellite?
Ron Lee
At 08:58 97/8/07 -0500, you wrote:
>As Ed Cannon described, we observed flashes from Gorizont 23
>for over 110 minutes last night. The first timed flash was
>at 2:33:00.9 UT on August 7, 1997. The last timed flash
>was 1:44:51.5 after that. Dividing 6291.5 seconds by 119 cycles
>gives a period of 52.870 seconds. This compares to an observed
>period of 53.442 last May 17 (May 18 UT). Very interesting.
>
>The flashes seemed brighter to me at 4:10UT than at 2:33UT, but
>I was looking through my 8" at 100x. Gorizont 23 seemed to be on
>my limit of observability (about mag 13) most of the cycle, but
>brief brightenings to mag 12 (at 40.0 seconds) and mag 11.5
>(at 47.4 seconds) were repeatedly observed. 40.0 seconds is
>about 0.75 of a cycle and 47.4 seconds is about 0.90 of a cycle.
>
>>Observing location was BCRC Austin, Texas, USA, 30.315N, 97.866W, 280m.
>
>For Gorizont 23, the altitude was 48 and the azimuth was 148.
>
>Mike McCants
>mikem@fc.net
>
>