I spotted Lacrosse 4 (00047A / 26473) on 2000 Aug 20 at 09:49:19 UTC, in twilight, as it passed about 1 deg below 53 Orionis. It appeared orange-red, like earlier Lacrosses. It was about 36 s late relative my search elements, and about 0.5 deg higher in elevation: Lacrosse 4 18.0 4.5 0.0 3.6 v 1 70007U 00232.99197917 .00001500 00000-0 27197-3 0 01 2 70007 68.0033 33.5777 0005500 178.8486 180.1000 14.66165000 09 This appears to confirm my prediction that Lacrosse would manoeuvre to circularize its orbit on 2000 Aug 19 at 23:48 UTC. Exact confirmation of the manoeuvre-time will be possible as soon as Lacrosse 4's orbit has been precisely determined. I observed one accurate point each of the payload and its rocket body: 26474 00 047B 2701 E 20000820094041820 17 25 0548850-142089 97 S 26473 00 047A 2701 E 20000820095004760 17 25 0625692-010686 28 S Ted Molczan ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Aug 20 2000 - 04:37:25 PDT