Recent C* 1908 peculiarity
Walter Nissen (dk058@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Wed, 24 Jan 1996 02:36:08 -0500
In PPAS format, here are my most recent OBS for this object (Tristan,
these are all new):
Walter I. Nissen, Jr., CDP, dk058@cleveland.freenet.edu, 55 Barrett RD #808,
Berea, OH 44017-1657, USA, 216-243-4980, -81d 51.823', 41d 22.413', 256m, 7x35
88- 1 A 95-09-29 0:58:45.2 WN S, C* 1908
88- 1 A 95-10-01 1:31:52.5 WN S, C* 1908
88- 1 A 95-10-03 0:25:25.4 WN S, C* 1908
88- 1 A 95-10-09 0:23: 1.0 WN S, poor conditions
88- 1 A 95-10-12 23:48:39.9 WN S, except 10s 2mag glint
88- 1 A 96-01-18 0:35:31.4 WN S, exc 3.5s 1.5mag glint
88- 1 A 96-01-22 0: 1:17.4 WN I, C* 1908
88- 1 A 96-01-22 10:10:52.4 WN S, C* 1908
As I have noted before, I have hundreds of unreported steady OBS, but when
an object demands attention perhaps I can go back and dredge some up.
Those of you, in better health than I, should please NOT emulate my
reporting habits.
For the first observation on the 22nd, I am now prepared to provide a
better description of the strange behavior I observed from C* 1908 =
88- 1 A = 18748. Conditions were somewhat difficult, but having observed
for many years around very large cities, I am accustomed even to very
adverse conditions. What I saw seemed very plain and obvious as I
observed, but quite strange considering the history of this object.
I had tremendous unanticipated difficulty locating the object. Then
suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, it appeared in my field of view. This
is the time noted in the record above. It was steady at about mag 4. 8.5
seconds later it abruptly disaappeared. I then lost it. It was gone so
long I decided to look away to get another fix, questioning my ability to
track it in invisible mode; that only works for short periods of time.
Despite constant attention, I was not able not reacquire the object until
0h2m34.4s, after which it was about mag 6 until it abruptly disappeared at
0h3m23.1s.
Taken by itself this OBS is unremarkable, but this is not like the C* 1908
I have observed so many other times. My file of 1000 elsets did not pop
up (using QuickSat) any other candidates which were at the altitudes and
azimuths at the times at which I saw this object. In fact, my problem is
not that I was surprised to see the object, but that I was surprised not
to see it when I didn't see it. So I am quite sure I saw C* 1908. I'm
pretty familiar with interference from clouds (especially at this season),
flora and fauna; and have no reason to suspect any such. I have seen many
glints from Tselina-1 objects, even from C* 1908. Typically they last
several seconds and appear to come and go at some rate between brisk and
leisurely. I'm not sure I've ever seen one so abrupt as this, which was
instantaneous on 3 different occasions, the initial appearance, and the
two disappearances. This glint was about the right duration and
amplitude, but not the right shape, so to speak.
Had this been one of the notorious Tselina-1 flashers like C* 1933 or 1953
or the like, I probably would have written this off as just another
bizarre story from a bizarre source.
One additional steady observation (on the rev following the peculiar one I
observed; SeeSat-L really works!) has been reported to me. I should
mention that I did observe a pretty strong very brief flash at low
altitude during the second observation on the 22nd, which I reported as
steady, but the wind turbulence was so extreme that I strongly suspect the
flash was due to atmospheric turbulence.
I would say that the first observation of the 22nd was a very unusual
observation. This object bears further close attention. At this season
it is a pretty safe bet that I won't be able to see much of anything
through the mostly constant cloud deck, much less C* 1908, so I would
certainly welcome reports from those of you with an interest.
Cheers.
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Walter Nissen dk058@cleveland.freenet.edu 1-216-243-4980
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They don't all occult Capella.