In my predictions for earlier tonight I noticed that Suitsat (05-034C, 28933) was there with a predicted orbital height of 167 miles (267 km). Mike pointed out that due to its short periods of visibility and coming decay, this could be our last chance to see it (maybe one more less favorable one on Monday evening). So, that's something to keep in mind. By the way, it went over in a big hurry but to me still seemed not too bright, maybe +4.5 at the brightest. I also noticed a poor pass of Cosmos 2106 Rk (90-104B, 20967) with an orbital height of only 183 miles (293 km). So it's another one that will be making low and fast passes in the next few weeks as its orbit decays. NOSS 2-3 object tumbling? I tried to check reports to see if anyone had reported this. On recent passes it has appeared that NOSS 2-3(D) (96-029D, 23862) seems to be tumbling, although quite slowly. While the two followers maintain a pretty constant magnitude throughout the pass, this one, the leader, varies by two or three magnitudes over a couple of minutes, or maybe three. It doesn't seem that changing phase angle would explain it, since the other two don't exhibit the same magnitude variation. Rapidly tumbling Gorizont. The other night Gorizont 15 (19017, 88-028A) was observed tumbling with a flash period of about 12.9 seconds (or maybe 25.8). I believe this is the second fastest flash period for a near-geosynch, after Superbird A (89-041A, 20040). Gorizont 15 was not bright. It required my 12x60 binoculars, at least. Speaking of Superbird A, earlier tonight I saw it through cirrus clouds for almost five minutes (03:52-03:57 UTC -- when it was around RA 16:14-19, Dec. -10.6, epoch 2000). Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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