Superbird B1 last night, a lunar transit, and a long flash period

From: Ed Cannon (edcannonsat@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Jan 13 2006 - 12:01:43 EST

  • Next message: Leo Barhorst: "LB obs 2006 Jan 13"

    Superbird B1 (92-010A, 21893) is about to get away to 
    the west.  Last night it was about 18 degrees above 
    the WSW horizon.  My clicks began at about 5:43:18 UTC 
    and ended at about 6:29:38.  I tried a couple of times 
    to see it without binoculars but did not, probably due 
    to moonlight and atmospheric extinction.  Its flash 
    period has shortened to about 65.7 seconds, with many 
    half-period flashes visible.  While I was timing it, 
    in between a couple of maxima, I saw a very bright 
    (possibly -6?), green fireball going down in the north 
    that fragmented as it faded out not far above/left of
    Polaris.
    
    Steve Newcomb's message about Lacrosse 5's lunar transit
    reminded me that from the Ney Museum site on January 9
    UTC NOSS 3-1 A (01-040A, 26905, the trailer) crossed the
    Moon.  Of course I couldn't see it as it transited, but
    I tried to click during the transit -- now if only I can
    figure out which click it was.  The pair were also 
    flaring just before that time, one of them to +1.  Ney
    Museum is 30.307N, 97.727W, 150m.
    
    Last Saturday evening (Jan. 8 UTC) from BCRC I timed 
    GStar 4 (90-100B, 20940), low in the WSW, from about 
    3:34:00 until 4:17:20 with a flash period of about 296
    seconds -- yes, 4 minutes, 56 seconds.  It was a long 
    wait, resting my elbows on the telescope shed roof, 
    waiting for the second flash after seeing the first one.
    
    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
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jan 13 2006 - 12:04:03 EST