re: 99099 observation

Philip Chien (kc4yer@amsat.org)
Sun, 20 Jun 1999 02:01:02 -0400

Edward S Light <light@argoscomp.com> said:

>This unknown object was easily seen with binoculars as it made its
>way slowly across the sky. Two crude attempts at timing ...
>UTC 1999 June 19 02:33:36 +/- 2 : 3 seconds early, and
>UTC 1999 June 19 02:35:07 +/- 2 : 0 seconds early relative to
>these elements (using Skymap) ...
>
>99099A            15    4    0 3.4
>1 99099U 99099A   99167.90066188  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    05
>2 99099  63.4395  65.9713 0234713 291.3036  67.5185  9.69752369    01
>
>i.e. - within our timing uncertainty, no clear discrepancy. Also, no
>obvious significant cross-track error.
>
>Nice object. Any positive ID yet?

Based on the orbit and precessing backwards it seems highly likely that
this is USA 144, the most recent Titan IV launch.  Clearly the payload is
raising its orbit from the inital deploy altitude.


so, the same object with the correct catalog and international IDs -


USA 144           15    4    0 3.4
1 25744  99028A   99167.90066188  .00000000  00000 1  00000 1 0    03
2 25744  63.4395  65.9713 0234713 291.3036  67.5185  9.69752369    07




Philip Chien, KC4YER
Earth News
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