STARSHINE II from South Atlantic Ocean

From: MALEY, PAUL D. (JSC-DO511) (USA) (paul.d.maley1@jsc.nasa.gov)
Date: Fri Jan 04 2002 - 08:54:58 EST

  • Next message: Alan Pickup: "SatEvo decay list #122"

    I observed STARSHINE II from the cruise ship ROYAL PRINCESS as follows:
    
    December 23, 2001 at 0458UT from 44.4 degress South, 63.2 degrees West
    between Puerto Madryn, Argentina and Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. Six
    flashes were seen. Flash 1 and 2 (magnitudes +2 and +2) were 12 seconds
    apart, then 45 seconds elapsed before flashes 3 and 4(magnitudes +2 and +3).
    These were separated by 19 seconds; then 45 seconds elapsed and flashes 5
    and 6 (magnitude +4) were seen separated by 26 seconds. Four of these
    flashes were recorded on video.
    
    Now what is interesting here is in relation to the recent email: "All of
    these data indicate the spin period 
    to be 121 seconds ± 1 second." received from radio monitoring by other
    STARSHINE people. The timeline of the above observation is:
    
    00  - flash 1
    12  - flash 2
    57  - a 45 second gap, then flash 3 occurs here
    76  - 19 seconds from flash 3 to 4
    121- end of 45 second gap, then flash 5 occurs here
    147- flash 6 occurs here
    
    While the timeline has been selectively anchored at the first flash it does
    show 121 seconds from flash 1 to flash 5, which may be related to the radio
    spin interval.
    
    December 25, 2001 (Christmas Day) from 53 deg 07minutes South, 60 degrees 05
    minutes West at 0431UT. A +1 magnitude flash seen followed 38 seconds later
    by a +2 magnitude flash followed 4 seconds later by another + 2 magnitude
    flash. We rounded Cape Horn on ths day. The STARSHINE observations reported
    yesterday from December 30, 2001 were then made from the Pacific Ocean.
    
    In addition, I have seen Molniya satellites from the northern hemisphere at
    fairly distant ranges. I attempted observation of Molniya 3-24 (15738) on
    December 23, 2001 at 0549UT and was disappointed to see that it was just
    barely visible in 7x35 binoculars varying irregularly between 6.5 and 8
    magnitude.
    
    Paul
    
    Paul D. Maley
    Tel. 281.244.0208, Fax. 281.244.1140
    Lat. 29.6049N, Lon. 95.1069W, Alt. 6m
    
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