Re: BS-3A (Yuri 3A)
Robert G Fenske Jr (fenske@rgfpc.electro.swri.edu)
Mon, 1 Mar 1999 08:41:46 -0600 (CST)
On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Ed Cannon wrote:
> Regarding BS/Yuri 3A (20771, 90-77A), the last two nights
> Mike McCants and I also observed the bright-bright-faint
> flash pattern that Rob Matson reported. Mike discovered a
> very small but repeated asymmetry in the timings, and I
> got it also, although I barely had enough times to see it:
>
> Bright Bright Faint
> ------ ------ -----
> 87.76 88.32
> 87.42 87.67 88.22
> 87.67 87.67
> 175.78 87.77 88.23
> 87.55 87.82
I observed this sat last night starting about 9:40pm local (03:40
Mar 1 UTC) as it drifted through Orion. I used both my 10x50 binoculars
and just my eyes. I did see 3 approx. +2 flashes and one +3 flash with my
eyes. I only saw every third flash, even with the binoculars. I measured
two of these periods at 527+-1 sec, which gives a close-to-the-above
average 87.8 sec / flash. It was rather fun trying to estimate where in
Orion I would see the next flash...with over 4 minutes 'tween the primary
flashes I had plenty of time to make an estimation.
On a different note, these days Mercury+Jupiter+Venus+Saturn make
a nice bright string of planets soon after sunset.
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."