Spacenet 2: request for obs

From: Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Sun Jan 05 2003 - 06:39:24 EST

  • Next message: Peter Wakelin: "SATOBS 2003 January 04/05"

    Spacenet 2 (15385, 84-114A, a drifting former geosynch) 
    flashes for a long time each evening, and from here
    during a very similar period of time from night to night.
    It's easy with 10x50 binoculars for at least 40 to 50 
    minutes per night (last night from 2:47 to 3:35 UTC), 
    and it may last twice that long if it has a phase shift
    during the event.  (That is, it may have started long 
    before Mike McCants and I happened to start observing it 
    on the nights when we have tried.) So this is to request 
    observations of it from others.  Elements for it are 
    available in Mike's mccants.tle and geo.tle files, on 
    this page:
    
    http://users2.ev1.net/~mmccants/tles/
    
    Its flash period is about 96.45 or 192.9, and every time 
    in the last month one of the maxima has disappeared 
    during the event.  I'm not yet sure of the magnitude of 
    the brightest flashes, but they are at least +5.5 and 
    may be brighter.
    
    It was discovered by Steve LaLumondiere in May 2000.
    
    Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA
    
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