Tony Beresford posted: >The D component prediction was some 10 minutes after the C & E components. Yes. The D object started showing large regular variations in brightness and occasional flashes last November indicating that it was tumbling slowly. But the other two objects remained relatively close to it until April. At that time the other two maneuvered slightly. Apparently the Navy has figured out how to do the same job with only two objects instead of three. (Note that the four NOSS 3-x launches were only pairs.) So, NOSS 2-3 C and E form a pair: NOSS 2-3 (C) 1 23908U 96029C 09249.04444969 0.00000010 00000-0 12589-4 0 05 2 23908 63.4090 126.3306 0354000 0.5072 359.4928 13.40544034 01 NOSS 2-3 (E) 1 23936U 96029E 09249.04455322 0.00000010 00000-0 12616-4 0 02 2 23936 63.4100 126.5109 0353000 0.2746 359.7254 13.40543114 04 NOSS 2-3 D was about 8 minutes behind at the epoch of these tles and it was gradually getting farther behind. NOSS 2-3 (D) 1 23862U 96029D 09249.04999695 0.00000010 00000-0 12648-4 0 01 2 23862 63.4050 126.4167 0352000 1.0784 358.9216 13.40514694 09 This is also true of the NOSS 2-2 objects. C and D remain a pair and E is several minutes behind that pair. But the NOSS 2-1 objects are still a "flying triangle". Mike McCants ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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