Way back on July 18 Don Gardner <Mir16609@aol.com> wrote: > Viewing conditions tonight are pretty terrible. Through a clear > area in the haze I was able to observe the Okean-O Rk for about > 15 seconds. It was flashing in a pattern similar to Globalstar > 36 r (25625, 99004E) - 3 quick flashes and a pause in about 1 > second. The flashes were about a +2.0 mag. These were observed > at 02:28:30 UTC, 18 July. Last night I watched it (25861, 99-39B) at one-power (neat!) and saw the 0.5 second period again, but Mike McCants observed it with his telescope and, if I understood correctly (I really don't want to put words in his mouth!), said it had secondary maxima between the primaries -- that is, two pairs of maxima per second. That doesn't change the fundamental period, but it makes it even more interesting. Okean-O itself (25860, 99-39A) was again an easy one-power object for much of its pass. It weighs over six metric tons (6150 kg), but I haven't been able to find its dimensions yet. There's an image of it on this page: http://www.okean-o.dp.ua/en_satellite.html#General Maybe someone who can read Russian can find on this other page about its orbital parameters whether it's already in its final orbit or in a parking orbit: http://www.okean-o.dp.ua/ru_page-1.html Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA