some objects from last night

From: Ed Cannon (edcannonsat@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Aug 18 2006 - 19:59:04 EDT

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    Last night something was traveling parallel to USA 186 (05-042A, 28888).
    I haven't yet gotten around to trying to identify it.  They were about
    a degree apart, maybe one and a half, going very parallel, same speed.
    This was early on August 18 UTC (evening of August 17, local time).
    
    Superbird A (89-041A, 20040) is getting on to the southwest and lower
    in the sky.  Last night its flash episode began just before 4:00 UTC
    when it was near roughly RA 16:00, Dec -10 (2000).  It's easy to see
    with my 8x42 binoculars for four or five minutes and can be seen for
    up to seven minutes on a good night when there are no competing 
    objects.  This is from our suburban BCRC site, 30.315N, 97.866W.
    
    Italsat 1 (91-003A, 21055) is flashing just before 5:00 UTC, with a
    flash period of about 59 seconds.  Generally I can only see half a
    dozen flashes, maybe seven, with my 8x42 binoculars.  When it's 
    higher in the sky, its brightest flashes should be easy to see 
    without magnification -- depending on moonlight and local conditions.
    
    I saw a near-geosynch flashing the other night with flashes at 43 
    and 32 seconds, but I wasn't able to identify it due to inadequate 
    positional measurements and too many candidates -- and not seeing it 
    again since.
    
    Thank you to Russell Eberst who caught an error of mine a few days 
    ago.  I wrote: "Suitsat (05-034C, 28933)", but Suitsat is 05-035C.
    
    Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA
    
    
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