Hi everybody, I managed to see the same pass of Raduga 33 that Mr Beresford saw on July 30. With a closest range of about 266 km, it definitely seems fast! My only previous observation of it (by accident, a couple of nights before) was pretty subdued compared to this one, with its arrival this time signalled by a bright flare/flash with a few more to follow. The point of this is to say that when this satellite comes to your part of the world, take a look if you can! The other night, July 27 0910:20 UTC, I was randomly scanning the NE sky with my 9x63 binoculars. I picked up a very dim, slow-moving satellite, which I (in my inexperience and ignorance of any nearby constellations) estimated to be maybe mag 7-8 or so. The only match I can find with alldat.tle, and FindSat + Virtual Sky (for direction) is GPS 2-17 r2 (22277). Its range was about 7500km, H-A mag 9.9, the sky was quite clear (haze-wise) and not light-polluted (but not completely cold either). Could I have seen something this dim and distant? Last night, while trying to see it again, I accidentally spotted Topex (22076), which I had also previously spotted accidentally the night I saw GPS 2-17 r2. Hmm! It was barely detectable, apparently mag 7.5, at about 3500km range, following the same path GPS 2-17 r2 should have been. Seeing as my first message a few months ago got no replies, I might as well reintroduce myself. I am 17, doing last year of high school, and have been observing satellites since a rocketry friend put me onto H-A about 3-4 years ago. I do this for fun and record most of my observations with a simple description in an Access database. My main hobby is photography and doing my own developing in the darkroom. I live about 25km SW of Melbourne, Australia. Thanks for reading!! Adam Hoppers Crossing, 37.8689°S, 144.6794°E UTC+10 (AEST) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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