So, Mike and Fred and I were watching USA 129 (96-072A, 24680). It was easy to see without binoculars. As it went past culmination, another bright satellite appeared, climbing higher in the west and approaching it. They passed within a couple of degrees, the W-to-E one just behind USA 129. I kept tracking the unid for quite a while as it went on to the NNE. Finally after the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Mike pointed out that Quicksat predicted a very similar pass to what we observed -- for Lacrosse 3 (97-064A, 25017)!! There was another bright pairing last night: HST (90-036B, 20580) and Lacrosse 4 Rk (00-047B, 26474). Who wants to write a program that will search out satellite conjunctions? They're fun! (Maybe there's already such a program? If I have time to look at my Quicksat predictions in advance, I might notice them, but usually I'm just reading the predictions in the dark and looking up, just trying to keep up with all that's happening.) I lucked out and saw SCD 2 (98-060A, 25504), a small, octagonal, spin-stabilized Brazilian satellite whose operational spin is said to be 32 to 36 RPM. It was flashing like mad for a few seconds and then grew very faint. Its flashing is probably predictable. Its spin axis is on the velocity vector (if that's the correct terminology). So its flat sides were still facing us and the Sun at the required angle when I first looked at it.) About four or five degrees in front of it (leading it) was Marco Polo 2 Rk (90-074B, 20763). Both were visible at the same time in the 8-degree FOV of the 8x42. BCRC site: 30.315N, 97.866W, 280m. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jun 19 2004 - 17:23:54 EDT