Aug 3/4 Obs
Mike DiMuzio (mdimuzio@cisnet.com)
Wed, 04 Aug 1999 05:00:45 +0000
Okean-O Rk -- This is already showing a more complex flash pattern
just after coming out of Earth's shadow. Instead of a nice 2 flash
per second, it was flashing, then flickered twice, then another flash a second
after the first. Has anyone else seen this? The 2 per second flash pattern
did appear by 02:04:30 UT.
While waiting for the next passing sat, I saw an unknown passing by
Deneb and the east end of the northern cross, Epsilon Cygnus. In binoculars,
this sat passed along a close double star south of epsilon. The match was for
what OIG boringly calls SL-16 R/B, or 92-076B, the upper stage for Cosmos 2219.
Lacrosse 2 on its pass slowly flared from 02:21:05 to 02:21:15 to first
magnitude from around 2.5.
Landsat 5 passes close to Vega at 02:41:24 UT +/- .5 sec, and faded into a cloud
that prevented a viewing of NOAA 11.
The clouds cleared for a spectacular pass of USA 129. As it came out of
shadow just before 03:03 UT, it was close to 4.5, but over the next 30 seconds
flared to -1 to -1.5 USA 129 faded quickly to 4th mag, then flashed around
03:03:45 UT +/- 2 sec to -2. This was a quick flash, maybe a quarter of a
second long. Beacuse I wasn't expecting this behavior, my timings aren't as
precise as I would like.
Mike
--
41.087N 80.714W 305 meters
Mike DiMuzio mdimuzio@cisnet.com