Re: another NOSS cluster?

Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Wed, 09 Jul 1997 19:39:50 -0400

Eric Vondra <EricVondra@aol.com> wrote:

>On another subject, is there another NOSS trio that's not in the Molczan
>list? I caught an 8th and 9th mag pair of satellites passing NNE by the 
>Veil Nebula (RA 20h56m Dec +31d43m, epoch 2000) in Cygnus at 0557 UT on 
>7/6 (from 41N 80W), the brighter one 5 degrees behind and 1 degree east 
>of the other, same course and speed. I looked for a third but didn't see 
>any (which sometimes happens with NOSS clusters). Nothing in his list 
>seems to fit. Are there any paired satellites other than TiPS?

I suspect 80-007B (11681, Cosmos 1153 Rk) and 88-023B (18986, Cosmos 
1934 Rk).  On 8 July around 5:04-06 UTC, from the Austin BCRC location, 
I observed those two together in the same binocular (5.5 deg.) field, 
tracking along as a pair for the whole pass.  They were very similar 
in magnitude, although I'm fairly certain that one overtook the other 
in brightness toward the end of my observation.

(Back on May 25, Craig Cholar <3432P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL> reported in
-- http://www2.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/sat/seesat/hyper/0031.html -- 
"#24772 & #9737 are paired up"; they were less than one degree apart.

>observed #24772 (Cosmos 2341) Saturday night, May 24, and was surprised
>to see another satellite shadowing it, less than a degree away. The
>unexpected satellite was #9737 (Cosmos 890), and followed the same
>course, at the same speed. I observed them both on their next orbit,
>and they were still closely paired. I've run a prediction for Sunday
>evening, and again there will be just a degree of separation; After
>that they will drift a little further apart each night.

Did anyone else observe that pair again?)

Ed Cannon
Austin, Texas, USA
30.3086N, 97.7279W, 165m