SNAPSHOT C, D. SPUTNIK JR 3
JAY RESPLER (jrespler@superlink.net)
Tue, 04 May 1999 21:34:00 -0400
David Brierley said to me:
"65-27C and D, 1316 1389 are the 2 parts of a plastic nose fairing.
They are bright objects, naked eye at times, but have very small radar
cross-sections. I seem to remember it took NORAD a little while to
find them."
I had already seen D but decided to look for C. Its RCS is only 1.23.
I saw it once at mag 6 but was surprised to see it last Friday at mag
2.5! for 20sec. It then faded to >7 at 9:05.
It is rare to see something with such a small RCS appear so bright.
*** 1999 Apr 30 Fri evening *** Times are PM EDT *** 2042 5 5
H M S Tim Azi ElC Dir Mag Dys F Hgt Shd Rng R A Dec RCS Name
9 2 51 .0 87 72C 273 21.0 6 7 774 620 808 1213 38.8 Snaps C
Snaps C
1 01316U 65027C 99115.45345264 +.00000042 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 06165
2 01316 090.1801 164.1147 0039109 161.0161 199.2324 13.08609788614982
#25723 is varying 12sec mg 5-7
11 3 3 .0 348 30C 90 21.6 2 2 359 39 638 346 76.4 SL-08 RB
I thought Sputnik Jr 3 was a sphere, yet I found it flashing about
once per second, from mag 8 to 6. What would be causing the flashes?
--
Jay Respler
--
JRespler@superlink.net
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