25780 seen

Edward S Light (light@argoscomp.com)
Sun, 25 Jul 1999 17:25:38 -0400 (EDT)

I accidentally sent this to the wrong address. Hopefully, this time, it
is better aimed!

> From edlight@juno.com Sat Jul 24 22:15:55 1999
> To: SeeSat-L@cds.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de
> Cc: light@argos.argoscomp.com, edlight@juno.com
> Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 22:15:18 EDT
> Subject: 25780 Seen
> From: Edward S Light <edlight@juno.com>
>
>
> Despite much haze, moonlight, and clouds, I managed to spot 25780 =
> 99-032D = Irid 14A SD in one of its last orbits.  I saw this VERY FAST
> moving decayer approximately 8 degrees above Vega at approximately
> 21:17.6 EDT July 24 (01:17.6 UTZ July 25) appearing slightly brighter
> than Albireo, say about V=2-1/2 or 3 (hard to tell because of the spotty
> clouds). I had hoped to time its passage near alpha Oph but it dis-
> appeared in a cloud before it got there.
>
> As near as I can tell, the object appeared within a few seconds and
> a degree or so cross-track of predictions using Alan Pickup's elset:
>
> Irid 14A SD
> 1 25780U 99032D   99206.03022052  .11057002  84703-1  30542-3 0 91194
> 2 25780  86.3356  71.1634 0024927 317.2882  42.5183 16.42749405  6834
>
> Very impressive; according to quicksat, it was only 118 miles (190 km)
> away from my site and just 114 miles (183 km) above the earth.
>
> Clear and dark skies!
>    Ed Light
>
> Lakewood, NJ, USA
> N 40.1072, W 074.2317, Hgt +21 m (69 ft)
>