Decay watch: Molniya r (#25486), 11 Oct 98
Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Sat, 10 Oct 1998 19:19:11 -0600
Moln 1T? Moln r1 271 x 185 km
1 25486U 98054B 98284.03086040 .02416918 23453-2 10170-2 0 90567
2 25486 62.8086 265.6353 0065436 134.8687 225.6645 16.17006610 1939
Observed at 00:55:20 UT on 11 Oct 98. About 4 seconds late using the
above elset and a bit west. Used binocs to acquire but easy naked
eye object in twilight. Timed 16 flashes to get an interval of
2.29 seconds. Same period as last night. This time however I noted
that alternate minima were deeper (invisible). I thought I was seeing
twice the number of rotations as last night but the period is the same.
This was a higher elevation pass and the lighting conditions apparently
were different.
This is my last likely obs of this object. This one was in much brighter
twilight than I hoped for but turned out to be bright enough as a
naked eye object (like Vega). Thanks for the elsets Alan.
Ron Lee, RGL, Lat = 38.9478, Long = -104.5614, Alt = 2073 m
98- 54 B 98-10-11 00:56:08 RGL 36.7 1.0 16 2.29