TSS: INCREDIBLE!!

TLINDER@aol.com
Mon, 11 Mar 1996 07:12:46 -0500 

Hi All:

First:  would someone be so kind as to post the latest TSS elements here.  I
usually have a hard time finding such stuff one the web.  Thanks.

Now the juicy stuff:  I saw TSS this morning for the first time from 35
degrees north, 82 degrees west.  It was predicted to pass about 23 degrees
above my horizon at 5:32 EST.
I stepped out into the cold and was disappointed to see clouds with a few
stars peeking thorugh.  Looking to the south however I was pleased to find
that that entire area of the sky was completely clear.  I checked out Comet
Hyakutake to make sure it was still there (duh!) and to check the focus on my
binoculars.  Then I waited.

The time for TSS pass came and went as I searched and searched the sky with
my 11x80 binoculars.  I figured it was just to dim or that my preditions were
wrong....but what about those spectacular descriptions by the "sat-ophiles"
at SeeSat?  They turned out to be incredibly right!  I had just about given
up and had stepped up onto the back steps of my house and turned around to
look for just a few seconds longer.  BAM!!!  TSS burst into view from behind
the corner eaves of my house.  I almost fell backwards off the steps.  It was
very cold outside but the shivers I got was definitely from the view of TSS.
 It looked almost like a ghostly spectre drifting eerily across the night
sky.  The waning gibbous moon was nearby but it didn't seem to diminish the
view.  Even in all my excitement I remembered to check the details that all
you good people have described.  I could easily see (with binoculars) TSS at
the top of the tether.  The tether was at least a couple of moon widths long.
  And there was the slight backward kink at the bottom of the tether.  During
its pass it passed directly between the open clusters M6 and M7 at the tail
of Scorpio.  I didn't really have a chance to make any timings or anything
like that but it was approximately 6 minutes late by the elements I used
which were a few days old.

I hope everyone who wants and tries to see TSS is successful as it was a
sight I won't soon forget!

Cheers all,

Tim Linder