>>One possible reason for it not doing so is that it has somehow managed >>to settle into a stable low-drag orientation. I too wondered why the HST array hasn't decayed yet. I recall that the press and other sources told us that the array would decay within one year. In fact some books have already mentionned that it decayed in the Earth's atmosphere. Well, its orbit has been lowered but not that much as one should expect. Here are all the photometric period measurements found in PPAS6: 90- 37 C 93-12-24 00:44 RIK 23 mag +7->4(4.5) 90- 37 C 94-02-11 01:26 MM 15 0.5 1 15 3.5-7 90- 37 C 94-02-12 01:31:25 WJW flashes to mag 8 90- 37 C 94-02-14 01:39:22 WJW peak elevation 20 degrees 90- 37 C 94-02-15 01:43:16 WJW problem with stopwatch 90- 37 C 94-03-30 02:47:17 WJW visible continuously 90- 37 C 94-05-14 04:20:46 WJW twilight, flashes visible 90- 37 C 94-05-16 04:23:14 WJW 71.8 0.1 9 7.98 sm 90- 37 C 94-05-17 04:26:13 WJW 71.8 0.1 9 7.98 sm 90- 37 C 94-08-24 01:54 MM 103.9 0.5 6 17.3 5-7, flash to 2 90- 37 C 94-11-27 02:11:22 WJW 52.0 0.1 6 8.67 sm, shadow 90- 37 C 94-11-28 02:11:25 WJW 69.3 0.1 4 17.3 2 complete array notation 90- 37 C 95-10-27 00:36 MM 51.6 0.5 3 17.2 flash to 3 General conclusion would be that the solar array is still tumbling with a period of about 17 seconds. Its period didn't change much from 94-02-11 untill the last observation so I do not believe it has settled into a stable position. Still it should be nice to have some new observations of it, at least to know for sure. Greetings, Tristan Cools tcools@nic.INbe.net BWGS member(Belgian Working Group Satellites) Damse Vaart: 3.2478E/51.2277N 3.75m Rijckevelde: 3.2856E/51.2045N 6.25m Brugge : 3.2166E/51.2104N 5m