RE: new subscriber, and help with satellite ID requested

From: Ted Molczan (ssl2molcz@rogers.com)
Date: Thu Jan 31 2008 - 15:20:01 UTC

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    Michael Rice wrote:
    
    > Hi all, I've newly subscribed from Cedar Vale, south of 
    > Brisbane in Qld, Australia
    
    Welcome to SeeSat-L, Michael.
    
    > 27.8997°S, 153.0213°E, darkish skies above with a city of a 
    > million or more about 50km away giving a fair bit of light 
    > pollution in the northern sky.
    >
    > Last evening approx 20:50 local time (10:50 UTC Wed 30 Jan 
    > 08), I spotted an object which flared brightly (mag 1 or 
    > brighter?) twice in a minute or two, while heading north to 
    > south through ?Eridanus (sorry, not a constellation
    > expert) as it approached the zenith. Flares were ?reddish in 
    > colour and the object remained faintly visible between, and 
    > after the second flare (?mag 4-5), until lost in light cloud 
    > cover probably just past zenith.
    
    Heavens-Above's menu offers limiting magnitudes as faint as 4.5, but once you
    make your selection, you can edit the magnitude in the URL to 5, which will
    yield many more objects:
    
    http://www.heavens-above.com/allsats.asp?lat=-27.8997&lng=153.0213&alt=100&loc=C
    edar+Vale&TZ=UCTm10&Date=39477.3541666667&Mag=5
    
    Looking at the list, Milstar 3 and OAO 2 rocket seem to be the best candidates.
    Both passed through Eridanus and culminated near the zenith, and both entered
    eclipse soon after, consistent with the disappearance of the object you
    observed. The one serious discrepancy is the direction of travel, which was
    strongly east, not south, as you reported. Since this was a chance sighting,
    while you were in the pool, I wonder whether you may have been a bit
    disoriented.
    
    Milstar 3 appears to match closest to your observed time. Predicted magnitude at
    zenith was 3.5 +/- 2, so it could have reached 1st.
    
    It could easily be something other than the above.
    
    Ted Molczan
    
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