mir objects and viking
richard.keen@kingsmarket.com
Tue, 23 Dec 97 21:49:47
Hi y'all -
Another fun evening, spotting 3 separate Mir objects and the high-flying
Viking. Below are the Quicksat output, the Quicksat standard magnitudes used,
and comments about each object. All were observed with a 32-cm newtonian
reflector. Heights listed are in miles.
39.877 105.391 8950. Coal Creek Canyon, CO 2000 19.0 1 F T F T F
1997 Dec 24 WedUT034 1326
H M S Tim Al AziC Dir Mag Dys F Hgt Shd Rng R A Dec Name
1 7 15 .0 22 225C 269 9.9 2 0 238 182 552 2126-15.5 Inspector
1 8 22 .1 22 225C 269 1.0 5 0 239 182 562 2125-15.8 Mir
1 52 49 .2 6 214 263 14.4 6 1 234 118 1053 2210-34.9 Sputnik 40
2 11 23 .1 79 286C 260 10.4 6 9 35873244 3622 023 41.9 Viking
16614 86 19B Viking 6.0 1.8 0.5 0.0
25100 97 58D Inspector 8.0
24958 97 58C Sputnik 40 9.0 0.2 0.0 0.0
Inspector: Using the elemtents posted by Craig Cholar, I aimed the 32-cm
reflector at the listed RA and Dec, waited a minute or two, and Inspector
soared through the field at a steady magnitude 8.5. A minute later Mir came
through at magnitude +1. Both objects passed about half a degree south of
Jupiter.
Sputnik 40: This has been a challenge object for me, with either clouds or
social engagements thwarting my attempts to find it. At last, success,
despite the horribly low altitude (large reflectors can work wonders
sometimes). Because of trees and distant mountains in the way, I observed
Sputnik well past its culmination point. The magnitude varied between 8 and 9
over time scales of one or two seconds. The large discrepancy between the
observed magnitude and the Quicksat output is due, I'm sure, to the large
atmospheric extinction factor in the Quicksat calculations. The observed
brightness is relative to stars in the field of the satellite, and so are
independent of extinction. As an added thrill, I was listening to the beep-
beeps of the Sputnik (on 145.82 MHz) on a hand-held VHF receiver while
watching it skim through the star field.
Viking: this object was around magnitude 10 most of the time, showing slight
variations, with brief flashes to magnitude 8 every 20 seconds or so.
Then, as seems to happen all to often in the winter, cirrus clouds moved in
and ruined the show.
Cheers, Rich Keen
Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado, USA (39.877N, 105.391W, elevation 2728m)