Re: I saw Mir! (& Cosmos 1953)

Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Tue, 26 Aug 1997 00:32:51 -0400

The weather cooperated for one more evening (Sunday), so I was 
able to see Mir at one power for six nights in a row.  Now a 
correction on my previous "I saw Mir!" message -- I wrote:
 
> saw Mir <...> about 15 minutes before the 10-degree twilight time 
>
>   sunset           - 8:04 p.m. CDT (1:04 UT, 24 August)
>   Mir              - 8:23-24
>   10-deg. twilight - 8:48

Glaring arithmetic error -- it was 25 minutes, not 15, before the 
10-degree twilight time!

Monday night I also saw Cosmos 1953 (88-50A/19210) again.  Its 
Quicksat predicted mag. was 2.6, and it may have been somewhat 
brighter.  Didn't see any flashes, but I was also trying to watch 
00694 (63-47A/Atlas Centaur) at the same time.  For a little while 
they were in the same one-power (30-degree or less?) field of view, 
with Cosmos 1953 flashing about 4 times for each tumble of 00694 -- 
19210 southbound and 00694 eastbound.

Monday night also saw a bright 1-second flash from "ASCA" (93-11A,
22521 -- The Satellite Formerly Known As Astro-D according to 
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/asca/asca2.html and other sites) 
near its culmination at alt 78 degrees.  It may have been as bright 
as nearby mag. 0 Vega.  Predicted mag. was 3.3-3.4, and I was only 
able to see it for a few seconds around the flash, as I was 
observing from on the university campus in the middle of the city, 
and the sky was less-than-ideal (high humidity, a few thin clouds)
also.

Ed Cannon
Austin, Texas, USA
30.3086N, 97.7279W, 165m