SAT CONJUNCTION
Alphonse Pouplier (pouplia@interpac.interpac.be)
Mon, 24 Jul 1995 14:19:09 +0200 (MET DST)
From Jim Varney, P.E.:
>At the time of observation, the altitude of 91- 39A was 652 km and
>the altitude of 87- 88B was 641 km. Using the law of cosines,
>I estimate that the actual separation of the two satellites was only
>63 km!
>Now here's the kicker: a third naked-eye satellite, travelling in the
>opposite direction, approached and "split" the pair! So, for a moment,
>there was a "triple satellite conjunction."
>Can anyone deduce the identity of the third satellite? It would be
>interesting to determine the actual physical separation of this
>object from the other two.
>The particulars: Long 121 23 54 W Lat 38 27 28 N Elev 8 meters
> Date July 23 1995 UT Time 05:24 UT
I analysed the question
1) At the given instant and place, for me:
The HEIGHT of 18422 was 632 Km and its ALTITUDE (not given) was 81 deg.
The HEIGHT of 21397 was 644 Km and indead, about same ALTITUDE.
The third "crossing" sat was 00047
21397 went from del HER to alf HER
18422 went from mu HER to alf OPH
00047 went from alf OPH to omi HER
All this can be given by the programs MIRVIS and IDENT
Alphonse POUPLIER pouplia@interpac.be