unid flare
Tyler MacKenzie (tmackenz@mta.ca)
Wed, 24 Feb 1999 23:50:19 -0400
Howdy list,
I saw a flare from out side my Sackville apartment tonight while
setting up my telescope. It was at 23:13 UT (7:13pm local) bearing NNE at
5-10d altitude heading slowly (? 0.2d per second) and almost horizontally
toward the NNW (i.e. retrograde-ish). It caught my eye by leaping forth
from behind a rooftop of the house across the street, and it travelled,
peaking at 0 or brighter, for about 10-15 seconds until dimming to
invisible. I have tentatively got it as MOS 1-B (20491/90013D), but it was
supposed to be nearly 9th mag. What would make this sat flare by 9+ mag's?
Is it something else? I only checked with the current molczan.tle.
-t
PS: After getting the scope hooked up, I got a nice treat following ETS-6
at 92x (10" newtonian) tumbling through Orion and Monoceros. Haven't
traked down the comparison stars yet, but it was varying from about 10-11
up to maybe 7 in a complex pattern. First time I've seen this tumbler.
Tyler MacKenzie MTX
Sackville, N.B., Canada
45.885 -64.368 +15m Z-0400