Sputnik 1 observation
MALEY, PAUL D. (paul.d.maley1@jsc.nasa.gov)
Wed, 24 Feb 1999 11:18:24 -0600
Ornulf Midtskogen wrote:
" As a young man I watched the 2 first Sputniks with great interest.
Artificial satelites had really an impact those days. I never saw Sputnik
1, so it was probabely not visible to the naked eye. My telescope was
mounted for astronomical porposes and unsuitable for such fastmoving
objekts. But I listened to the "grapefruit" on SW radio, 19.995MHz as I
recall. Sputnik 1 rocked however, was a fine object at about 1. magnitude
when passing ahead. Sputnik 2, sitting on its rocked, was even brighter
outshining most star at 0 magnitude."
I did not begin observing satellites until I was 13 years old which was at
the time of the Echo I launch; but my records from that era shows four
observations of Sputnik 1. It was estimated to be of magnitude +6. These
were not my observations, however, one of them was from my mentor at that
time, Fred Ball who was a very good observer. So Sputnik 1 would not have
been visible to the unaided eye except in a very dark environment to an
astute, prepared observer.
Paul
Paul D. Maley
tel. 281-244-0208; fax: 281-244-1140
email: paul.d.maley1@jsc.nasa.gov
latitude 29.6049 north, longitude 95.1086 west, elev 6m