Re: Flaring UNID help requested

From: ronlee--- via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2016 15:12:57 -0600 (MDT)
Thanks to Mike McCants these are no longer UNIDs.

The second observations is clearly Skymed 1 (31598,  07 23A)

The first observation has a very good match with Kompsat 5.
(39227,  13 42A)

I was unable to see following passes of either in the days after
but I have been watching Kompsat 5.  Two passes southbound through Cygnus
both flared in the middle to southern part of Cygnus.  Both were much
fainter than the southbound pass in my original post but still naked eye
flares...perhaps magnitude 3.

This morning I also saw a short flare as the northbound Kompsat 5
was about to reach the handle of the Big Dipper.

Kompsat 5 has several surfaces that could be causing these flares.
I have no idea if more than one surface is involved.  The satellite
image and suspected orientation in orbit are seen below:

https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/k/kompsat-5

I plan on making multiple observations in the following month
to try to get enough data points that may allow someone to model
the flares.

The bright one seen earlier was a southbound pass about 70 degrees elevation
in the west about an hour to 65 minutes after sunset.

Ron Lee






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Received on Sun Oct 23 2016 - 16:13:36 UTC

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