Reply to Eric Vondra's viewing of Molniya 3-27 (85117A, #16393) and replies from ROB MATSON and Robert Sheaffer about a 12 seconds flasher : [...] >Interesting that a colleague reported a sighting to me from New Mexico >in December of a bright flashing object that matches up only with a >Molniya object: >> The flashes (very bright, fast, and small) were repetitive enough for me to estimate about a 12-second interval. [...] >While there were several possibilities, in my guesstimation the best >candidate is: >18 January 1979 Molniya 3-11 Nation: USSR. Launch Site: Plesetsk . Launch >COSPAR: 1979-004A = 11240 >Another possibility might be something designated 96060A, but I don't >know what that is. Its range was 12,340 km. Also, 94081 was at a range >of 16,327 km. 96- 60 A = Molniya 3-48 = 24640 94- 81 A = Molniya 1T = 23420 >While a Molniya is surlely a large object, I am not aware of any naked-eye >sightings of reflections from them. The range was 16,494 km. While this is I have tried to observe Molniya's over the last months. My findings are that most of the time these birds are pretty faint, since very often I don't see anything..., meaning that they are let's say fainter that mag 12-13. Molniya types have 6 panels of solar arrays perpendicular to the main body axis. Sometimes (favourable orientation of the solar panels) they can be fairly bright : I saw 78- 95 A = 11057 = Molniya 3-10 at 19000 km on 98-1-26 with flashes to magnitude +4 ! On 98-2-17 and last Saturday, I didn't saw anything... So they can become naked eye, but 'some' luck is needed... Greetings, Kurt Jonckheere