RE: Pacific Standard Time
Richard Baldridge (RBaldridge@Filss.com)
Wed, 3 Mar 1999 07:23:36 -0800
Bart wrote,
> Same here (Palo Alto), the weather was really nice, just a few
high
> clouds. We went up to the roof of the office with about 10 of
my
> colleagues (most of whom also saw the TRACE launch last year).
We saw the
> con-trail of the Lockheed plane carrying the Pegasus. The
con-trail was
> divided up into two distinct pieces so we were all convinced
that one of
> them was from the plane and the other from Pegasus. One person
could see
> the lights of the plane with binoculars at the end of one of
the
> contrails.
Close. The divided contrail is from TWO planes, the L-1011 and
an F/A-18 Hornet chase plane, not the Pegasus. Great photo at
http://www.orbital.com/Prods_n_Servs/Products/LaunchSystems/Pegasus/inde
x.html
I've videotaped the pair making their run up the California
coast to about Half Moon Bay then U-turning heading south to the drop
point. For the last attempt, the contrails were very faint but
observable. Looking forward to the rescheduled drop if the weather
holds.
If anyone from the South Bay Area is interested, I made a .PCX
and .GIF of the drop using SKYMAP and info supplied here by Brian Webb
and Bjrn Gimle. E-mail me at rbaldridge@filss.com and I'll get it
to you.
Good luck.
RICK BALDRIDGE Campbell, CA N37.272 W121.977 Alt 72M