Oct 24, 2000 While out walking with some friends near the raleigh springs site we observed a flare from Iridium 23 and near zenith passes by Lac's 3 & 2 at 00:46 and 00:54. Just after the Lac 3 pass at 00:46 we observed a -1.0 flare from an UnId and observed it for almost two minutes as it faded from view. Not equipped to take measurements we noted the times by wristwatch and error should be no more than several seconds. Crosstrack error should be around 2 to 3 degrees however could be greater. The first point I noted a distance from Gam Cyg on a line to n cyg the same as the distance from Gam cyg to Alp cyg. The second point was a degree or two, viewing naked eye, just above Gam Del. Unid flared to mag -1.0 at 19:46:30 and slowly faded from view over two minutes, a slow mover, W to E. 00:46:30 off of n cyg 00:48:40 off of Gam Del Running Alldat search with no constraints showed Topex, 22076, with Identical trajectory however, a minute later and moving faster than the UnId. The UnId took two minutes to cover the distance that prediction showed Topex to take one minute. Anyone with ideas as to what the UnId was? The elset for Topex was 1.14 days old. I don't have a magnitude value for Topex, is it bright? Has anyone else reported flares from Topex? If I read my watch's digital readout incorrectly it could have been Topex the second point is within 10 secs, the first point however would be a full minute off and I am confident that I read the time correctly. (Yes, I did compare my watch with a GMT set timepiece). Feedback anyone?? 22222 22 222U 8936 G 20001024004630000 28 25 1959686+352421 99 M-010 10 22222 22 222U 8936 G 20001024004840000 28 25 2050113+162997 99 S+040 10 Ir 23 on time at 1.0 Lac 3 on time at 2.4 Lac 2 on time at 2.5 Clear and Dark Skies--------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Nix | 150 yds west of Raleigh Springs #8936 35.2131N 89.9354W 90m | Lim Mag 7.0, clear Sat-tracks.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 23 2000 - 19:38:16 PDT