Several excellent sights this weekend. Only thing is, some of the objects were puzzling. An unknown flasher I thought was ETS-6 and then realized was flashing too frequently, seems to be Cosmos 2345 (24894): 97- 41 A 07-04-29 02:54:54 BY 93.8 0.2 18 5.21 FF mag 7->inv Position at that time was approximately 14h30m, -1 deg near Phi Virgo. Was very slowly drifting, not like a MEO. I would appreciate verification of this identification since I see no record of this object in the PPAS database. It is listed as having gone "out of control" in Feb 1999. MetOp-A flared, just as predicted by Gerhard Holtkamp: 06- 44 A 07-04-29 03:32:13 BY 40.6 flare mag -1.5 Note 2 He had written in a private communication: "here's another chance for you to see a Metop flare (or be clouded out in the attempt) : 3:31:53 UTC, 29-APR-07" I saw the maximum of the flat, long lasting flare at 3:31:50 +/- 5 seconds! Tried MAST with 125mm ETX at 47X when it should've passed an easy asterism; add me to the list of people who did not see it (to limiting magnitude of at least 10) PPAS: Designtn Date Time Obsr Durtn Acc Num Per Remarks 91- 61 A 07-04-28 02:12:06 BY 103.2 0.2 8 12.90 A'A mag 1->5 Note 1 02- 11 B 07-04-28 02:38:48 BY M mag 5->6 difficult 68- 91 A 07-04-28 03:31:29 BY S mag 6 71- 38 B 07-04-28 03:38:12 BY S mag 6 not seen in N 87- 9 A 07-04-28 03:40:39 BY S mag 5.5 not seen in S 85- 41 A 07-04-28 03:42:45 BY S mag 6 71- 24 D 07-04-28 02:00:14 BY S mag 6 Note 5 99- 09 C 07-04-29 02:13:07 BY S mag 9 47X 91- 61 A 07-04-29 02:15:23 BY A mag 4 85- 87 B 07-04-29 02:32:11 BY 80.2 0.2 20 4.01 FF mag 6.5->9 47X 87- 87 A 07-04-29 03:06:28 BY S mag 8.5 07- 1 B 07-04-29 03:33:38 BY S mag 6 96- 39 B 07-04-29 03:37:01 BY 82.7 0.5 3 27.6 MM mag 4.5->5 84- 33 A 07-04-29 03:46:24 BY S mag 8 05- 42 A 07-04-29 03:49:03 BY 49.8 2 flares mag -1 06- 62 G 07-04-29 04:07:49 BY S mag 10 47X 76- 73 B 07-04-29 04:12:14 BY 135.4 0.2 4 33.9 FF mag 7->inv 96- 29 E 07-04-29 04:36:11 BY 57.5 AA mag 6->inv or 2 subtle flares 71-116 B 07-04-30 02:02:22 BY 27.9 0.2 3 9.3 FF mag 4->inv hp? 94- 24 B 07-04-30 02:07:03 BY M mag 6 Note 4 85- 41 B 07-04-30 02:09:33 BY S mag 6 85- 87 B 07-04-30 02:21:48 BY 160.5 0.2 44 3.647 FF mag 6,7,8->inv Note 3 01- 38 B 07-04-30 02:30:51 BY 69.1 0.2 4 17.3 AA mag 6->8 Notes: 1) Period based on first timings of pairs of flashes or start/end of flares in about 5 sec cycles- very impressive! 2) Timing is end of visible flare at about mag 4 (naked eye) - 40.6 sec earlier flare began 3) Got in 12 X 60s after previous night in 125mm Mak - still can't nail period 4) Just one maximum seen - must be very long period slow 6 -> 8 mag approximately 5) Identified as a piece of ISIS 2 Deb - seems to be the only thing that matches position and speed of slow object low in the east. And it wasn't a plane - it disappeared into shadow right about where it was supposed to! Brad Young TULSA 1 COSPAR 8336 36.1397N, 95.9838W, 205m ASL ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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