Re: Unidentified Lunar Transit

Jim Varney (jamesv@softcom.net)
Mon, 5 Jul 1999 14:27:55 -0700

On 5 Jul 99, Brian Webb wrote:

> 
> About a week ago I was looking at the contrast differences on the full Moon
> through my 8-inch (20 cm) telescope. I was using a magnification of 51 times.
> 
> Thus far I've been unable to identify it. Perhaps a fellow See-Sat member could
> help me to identify it. Here are the specifics of my observation:
> 
> 	Date (UTC): 1999 June 27
> 	Time of Lunar Disk Mid-Transit (UTC): 04:31:40
> 	Observing Site: Lat: 34.3042 N, Long.: 118.8419 W, Elevation: 175 meters

I ran SkyMap with Allen Thomson's TLE file from June 25. Nothing shown 
through the center of the disk. The closest candidate was

IntID/Name   CatNo Source period   Incl Apogee Perigee      RCS
------------ ----- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------- --------

1981-053BW   12729 CIS     106.5   83.1   1165     963   0.1022
COSMOS 1275 DEB           Launched (1981/06/04) 

This missed by one lunar disk at about 4:30:43. RCS seems too small to be 
it.

 -- Jim
  


__________________________________________________________
Jim Varney        -121.398 W, 38.457 N, 10m
Member, Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society
Sacramento Space Page www.softcom.net/users/jamesv