Re: Bright and Tumbling
Ralph McConahy (Ralph.Mcconahy@jpl.nasa.gov)
21 May 1998 16:04:33 -0700
Grzegorz,
For your location on 20 May, the NOSS 2-3 rocket passed near Spica in
the south moving toward the northeast. I've logged NOSS 2-3r with
flash duration shorter than 8 seconds, but the rest of your
description fits this object. NOSS 2-3r is relatively bright. At
culmination it was about 550 km from you which means it was capable of
displaying near mag -1 flashes.
For 53.38N 14.83E on 20 May 1998:
UT RA Dec El Az
96- 29 B 21h08m36s 13h29 -10 26 189
NOSS 2-3 r 21h09m03s 14h08 - 4 33 178
21h09m31s 15h03 + 5 40 160
21h09m58s 16h16 +16 44 132
21h10m26s 17h38 +24 41 104
21h10m54s 18h52 +29 33 85
21h11m21s 19h49 +30 26 74
By your message I wasn't sure where in its path it was at 2111 UT. The TLE
I used is nearly two weeks old which may account for a small time
difference.
NOSS 2-3 r
1 23907U 96029B 98128.09595476 .00032000 00000-0 36716-3 0 04
2 23907 63.4295 222.2104 0084001 135.5750 224.4250 15.57322443 09
Ralph McConahy
34.8829N 117.0064W 670m
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Bright and Tumbling
Author: caliban@kki.net.pl at Internet
Date: 5/21/98 11:04 AM
Hello,
A strange satellite was observed at 21:11 UT, May 20. It passed Spica
low in southern sky and moved north-notheast. It's brightness was
changing for 3 to -1 mag. with period of about 8 seconds. Maybe someone
knows what that was?
Thanks,
Grzegorz Koralewski
53.38N, 14.83E, 100m