Hello Ted and other SeeSatters: Following might help: On Fridaynight May 8th I intended to start observing a "PPAS-object". Before looking at the targetarea I saw a satellite moving in between beta and gamma Ser, dividing the connection line in 1 and 2. Position estimate RA 15:50 dec +15.7. I followed this object because the inclination was more like Seasat than like sun-synchronous satellites. It passed Edasich (iota Dra) 1 minute 28 seconds later, estimate RA 15:25 dec +59.0. Unfortunately I forgot to record a time on my voicerecorder. It must be sometime between 21:00 and 21:03 when it was near beta and gamma Ser. There were no other (bright) satellites travelling between these two stars in that time interval going in the observed direction. With a simple program I used the position estimates and a height of 800 km and found inclinatie 113.2. My "feeling" was confirmed. Together with your non-observations I think it might be I saw the rocket, but more than 10 minutes early w.r.t. the predictions made with following TLE: 09023B STSS-ATRR r 1 34904U 09023B 09125.95957157 0.00247275 00000-0 00000-0 0 09 2 34904 112.7800 216.3633 0519924 282.5289 71.8193 15.08518086 02 which yields a time of 21:14:57 at the declination of those stars in Ser. I was able to see 09023A 34903 with mag +7.0 at about 23:05 Site 4160: 51.27931 N, 5.47683 E (WGS84), 35 m Bram Dorreman 2009/5/9 Ted Molczan <ssl3molcz@rogers.com>: > My sky began to clear just after my final pass of the 2nd stage, but in time to > attempt to observe the final pass of the payload. It was due to pass near good > reference stars located near az 298, el 20, on 2009 May 08 at 05:55:16 UTC. > Predicted magnitude 7.2 +/-1 at least 1. Conditions were poor - haze illuminated > by the bright moon, but with my 25x100 binoculars, I could easily see a mag 7.6 > star and less easily a mag 8.2 star in my FOV. I did not see the satellite. I > waited an additional 7 minutes, in case it made a small manoeuvre, but saw > nothing. > > It was also a no-show for me last night, in rather better circumstances > (similarly crummy sky, but much higher elevation, and could see easily to mag > 9). Tonight's conditions were too marginal to declare that the object has > manoeuvred; however, if no positive sightings are reported by ~14:00 UTC, I will > post search elements as a precaution, assuming a manoeuvre soon after the last > known sighting. > > The following are my and Mike McCants' latest elements: > > 1 34903U 09023A 09127.88489887 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 05 > 2 34903 98.9298 226.1078 0008205 251.8764 108.1511 14.06068508 05 > > 1 34903U 09023A 09127.88488268 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 07 > 2 34903 98.9513 226.1446 0007714 220.9054 139.0944 14.06067719 03 > > Ted Molczan > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: > http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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