The new NOAA17 is in an orbit almost identical to NOAA9. Today they flew in formation and passed each other slowly around 1900UT. They are still quite close. I wonder if anyone's tracking program can tell the minimum separation. Looks like it may have been less than 20mi for a while. Weather sat buffs like me still watch the NOAA9 position because although its systems have long since been deactivated, its APT transmitter somehow came back to life a few years ago and it transmits a carrier wave that interferes with the other NOAA sats. The faint signal slowly rises and falls as it tumbles and light hits its solar panels. Seems to have about a 45 second period. Not sure if anyone has confirmed this with visual flash observations. Dale ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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