very bright flashes from Cosmos 2228

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Last night I saw 4 very bright flashes from Cosmos 2228. (22286, 92-94A)
The first flash was very brief, about magnitude 0, and orangish.
The second flash was magnitude -2 and blue/white.
The third flash was about magnitude -1 and white.
The fourth flash was about magnitude 0 and white.

The flashes were spaced about 15 seconds apart.

Here is the Quicksat prediction (Austin, Tx):

***  1998 Mar  17  Tue evening  *** Times are PM CST

22286 Cosmos 2228    6.0 2.0     8.3 3.8   3.5
 H  M  S  Tim Al Azi C Dir  Mag Dys F  Hgt Shd  Rng  EW Phs  R A   Dec
 7 48 46   .0 54  96 C 273  3.3   8 5  417 179  501 1.6  38  933  20.6

The first flash was about 7:49:17, the last was about 7:50:02.

According to the PPAS, it started tumbling last August and has
gradually slowed its tumble over the last 7 months.

Mike McCants

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