Re: satellite transits the sun ? + introduction

From: Robert G Fenske Jr (fenske@rgfpc.electro.swri.edu)
Date: Tue Jun 10 2003 - 18:28:38 EDT

  • Next message: Robert G Fenske Jr: "solar transit of a different kind"

    On Tue, 10 Jun 2003, Wim Holwerda wrote:
    
    > On 27 May a friend of mine noticed while observing the sun, a black dot
    > transiting the solar disk and he wondered if this might have been a
    > satellite. It crossed the sun from West to East in approx. 8 sec
    > (estimated). It left the solardisk at 06h29m52s (UT) at the Eastern rim. The
    > coordinates of the observer are: lat. 51° 32' 50" N, long. 05° 04' 48" E.
    
    	8 seconds is too long for a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite.  LEO
    satellite transits are hard enough to see with a telescope, anything in a
    higher orbit than LEO would be harder still.  More than likely it was an
    airplane or bird (something terrestrial anyway) that your friend saw.
    
    
    Robert Fenske, Jr.   rfenske@swri.edu    Sw     |The Taming the C*sm*s series:
    Southwest Research Institute            /R---\  |
    Signal Exploitation & Geolocation Div  | I    | |"The Martian canals were the
    San Antonio,Texas USA  ph:210-522-3931  \----/  | Martians' last ditch effort."
    
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