Lacrosse 2 Rk (91-17B, #21148) running late
Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Tue, 30 Dec 1997 16:52:59 -0600
(I hope the following two observations will be useful, even though
unfortunately I ended up with uncertainties on both!)
Using these elements:
Lacrosse 2 Rk
1 21148U 91017B 97347.25322987 .00022500 00000-0 32388-3 0 01
2 21148 67.9780 43.0088 0067000 183.4440 176.5560 15.53105488 05
on 27 Dec 1997 UTC I observed Lacrosse 2 Rk to pass a few degrees from
the Pleiades either one or two minutes later than predicted. (I can't
read what I wrote; it was either 00:55:45 or 00:56:45.)
On 29 Dec 1997 at either 00:50:35 UTC (what I *thought* I had written)
or 00:52:35 (what I actually wrote), it passed within a small fraction
of a degree of Polaris (alpha UMa, observed in 10x50 binoculars).
These two times would make it about one or three minutes late.
Both nights, at the time of the observation and *before* reading what
I had written down, I thought it was about two minutes late. After
looking at my notations, I was just puzzled -- except that it was at
least *one* minute late both nights. It was steady and about mag. +1.0
to +1.5 both nights, and no others that bright were predicted around
the time of the observations.
Observing location was San Antonio, Texas -- 29.40N, 98.64W, 180m.
Ed Cannon
ecannon@mail.utexas.edu
Austin, Texas, USA