Saw Mir pass over Chicago at 18:28 this evening. I tracked it by hand with a 10" Meade reflector. The shuttle was plainly visible as an elongated object and was accompanied by a second object about two magnitudes fainter. The separation was several minutes of arc and the second object was oriented more or less perpendicular to the direction of motion as the shuttle passed nearly overhead. So presumably this was the shuttle radar on the end of the 200 foot long boom. I could not see the boom itself. The shuttle itself also seemed to separate into two distinct illuminated sections as it approached the zenith --perhaps an illuminated wingtip? This was an EASY observation. If you have access to a telescope, I highly recommend taking a look. I've tracked Mir and the shuttles on previous occasions but never seen such clear evidence of structure. -Frank E. Reed Chicago, IL ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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