In message <vines.G5i8+SSN@?>, Wayne T Hally <wayne.t.hally@bangate.tek. com> writes > Once again I beg your help on the event described below. This was the >entire extent of what I've found regarding a "meteor shower" which >allegedly hit only Northern California Sunday evening, March 8th. Not too >many specifics are given, but I assume this would be between 1800 and 2000 >PST (0200-0400 UT on the 9th). This does not sound like meteors at all, >rather it seems like a possible decaying satellite or rocket...or maybe a >phalanx of irritated fireflies ...that is why I come to you again, hat in >hand, pleading for assistance. >Was there any object expected or known to deorbit in this approximate time >and place? >... I can find no decaying object to fit the bill. With one uncertain exception (see below) I know of no re-entries since that of the STEP-2 Pegasus debris object #24078 (= 94- 29 DZ) at about March 7.4. The exception is the Molniya 1-73 r2 #19380 (= 88- 69 D) for which no new elsets have appeared since this ten-day-old one: Molniya 1-73 r2 39430 x 35 km 1 19380U 88069D 98059.82491480 .01418581 -20442-4 28206-5 0 9739 2 19380 63.7756 357.1588 7543677 245.9595 22.6562 2.05789893 46545 The perigee is certainly wrong - it was probably closer to 105 km at this epoch. My calculations suggest, however, that the perigee is being forced down by lunisolar effects at about 1 km per day. USSPACECOM appear to have lost it for the moment though I expect that they will find it again before it re-enters - my current SatEvo decay list predicts this for "March 19?". It is not impossible that this has decayed already, though this is unlikely in my opinion. I think its orbital plane would have been over the USA between 02:00 and 04:00 UTC on the 9th, though possibly too far to the north and east to give a re- entry visible from N California. It is impossible to say where around its orbit it would have been between these times, but if it was decaying along the USA arc of its orbit it would have been moving south- eastwards. Alan -- Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707: 55d53m48.7s N 3d11m51.2s W 156m asl Edinburgh | Home: alan@wingar.demon.co.uk +44 (0)131 477 9144 Scotland | SatEvo satellite page: http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/