2015-046B re-entry seen from Bolivia, Jan 15 near 5:53 UT

Hi all,

Jan Hattenbach, a well known German astro-photographer contacted me today with 
what he thought might be a re-entry sighting from Coqueza, Bolivia.

He was right, it was a re-entry, that of the CZ-3B r/b 2015-046B, NORAD #40893, 
the r/b from the launch of TJS-1.

Here is what Jan wrote (accompanying a beautiful photograph of the event showing 
a fragmenting object low in the southern sky):

"I have been in Bolivia (19°54′5″ S 67°37′32″ W) last two weeks to do some 
nightscape shooting for an argentine artist. On Jan. 15., between 01:53 - 01:54 
local time (05:53 - 05:54 UT), we observed what was probably a reentry of a 
rocket stage or something. The object moved slowly from west to east, very low 
above the soeuthern horizon, and emitted several flashes. The color was orange. 
I did not witness it myself as I was sleeping in the tent, but a colleage 
described it to me. Luckily, we captured it with one of our cameras"


I am not allowed to forward the image that Jan sent, as that is part of an image 
series for an art project and the artist which Jan was helping out fears it 
might be published before his exhibit.

Time, geographic place and sky-track on the photo however match well with the 
JSpOC TIP message and a SatAna-SatEvo propagated orbit for 2015-046B.

JSpOC has decay at 15 Jan 2016 05:51 UT +/- 7 min near 26 S, 283 E. Both time 
and geographic position match with the reported sighting.

My propagation with SatAna and Satevo has it decay near this time as well, and 
the resulting propagated orbit suggests culmination of the r/b for Jan's 
location in Bolivia near 5:56 UT, 5-6 degrees above the horison, with the r/b at 
an altitude of approximately 89 km at that time. This is 1-2 mintes later than 
the time reported by Jan. The track on the image is a reasonably good match with 
the track on the photograph.


- Marco


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Dr Marco Langbroek  -  SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands.
e-mail: sattrackcam_at_langbroek.org

Cospar 4353 (Leiden):   52.15412 N, 4.49081 E (WGS84), +0 m ASL
Cospar 4355 (Cronesteyn): 52.13878 N, 4.49937 E (WGS84), -2 m ASL
Station (b)log: http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com
Twitter: _at_Marco_Langbroek
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