Re: Observations: 3 Unknowns

Sue J. Worden (worden@uts.cc.utexas.edu)
Tue, 17 Jun 1997 10:57:10 -0500 (CDT)

> Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 07:51:43 -0700
> From: sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer)
> Subject: Observations: 3 Unknowns
> [ ... ]
> Either we have a bunch of UFOs flying about, or else there are a
> bunch of objects up there not cataloged in ALLDAT.TLE.

	A side note to this...  I caught an unknown in the lower right
	quadrant of my 7 degree binocular field of view while watching
	the last part of a Mir pass on the evening of June 2nd (June 3,
	02:04 +/- 0:00:30, UT at 30.363 N, 97.727 W).  Unknown was east
	of Mir, moving upwards and eastwards.  My estimates of magnitude
	should be taken with a huge grain of salt, and having said that,
	I estimate the unknown's magnitude to have been in the general
	neighborhood of +4.

	I had no luck whatsoever identifying it from the alldat.tle file.
	The closest match in position and time was Cosmos 475 Rk (72 9B),
	but it would have had to have been running almost 2.5 minutes late,
	which Mike McCants informs me is highly unlikely.  Since I don't
	have a copy of HighFly, Ed Cannon has offered to check those type
	objects for me, the idea being that *possibly* my unknown is in a
	highly eccentric orbit and was near perigee when I saw it.

	So, anyway, you're not the only one seeing UFO's up there! :-)

	--Sue Worden (worden@uts.cc.utexas.edu)