Yahoo! FORTE (finally) seen
Jim Varney (sat_watcher@rocketmail.com)
Wed, 3 Sep 1997 21:28:39 -0700 (PDT)
I can say with certainty and glee that I finally saw FORTE and the
FORTE booster on Sept 4 0357 and 0354 respectively.
The Pegasus upper stage was about 7th magnitude. I did not make a
flash period timing because I didn't want to miss the payload which
was following 2.5 minutes later. But I did see some secondary maxima
in the booster's tumble.
FORTE was steady but quite dim, maybe mag 8.5 in my 10x50 binocs. A
little brighter than what Paul Maley reported but this was a very
favorable western 74 degree pass.
The TLE mystery is no more. The OIG elsets were perfect -- are you
surprised?
__________________________________________________
Jim Varney 121.398W 38.458N 8m Sacramento, CA
jamesv@softcom.net, sat_watcher@rocketmail.com
_____________________________________________________________________
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