Re: Possible decay obs from Joshua Tree, CA

From: Mark Hanning-Lee (markhl@prodigy.net)
Date: Wed Nov 26 2003 - 19:21:09 EST

  • Next message: JAY RESPLER: "ufo Nov 25"

    That sounds like a fairly strong ID to me!
    
    Thanks Alan
    
    --- Alan Pickup <alan@wingar.demon.co.uk> wrote:
    > Mark Hanning-Lee writes:
    > 
    > >I have been off the list since September, but
    > wanted
    > >to share this observation.
    > >
    > >Saturday 11/22 my wife & I were in Joshua Tree
    > >National Park, CA, a few miles S of the W entrance.
    > >About long 116.3 W, lat 34.1 N, elevation 920 m. We
    > >were looking at sats and Comet Encke, and noticed a
    > >striking phenomenon.
    > >
    > >A group of 3 objects crossed the sky from the West
    > to
    > >the south. First saw them in the west about 30 deg
    > >high near Altair. (They may have appeared earlier
    > but
    > >this was when we noticed them.)
    > >At 19:31 local time = 3:31 11/23 UTC.
    > >Not timing precisely so +- 1 minute.
    > >
    > 
    > I suspect that this is the decay of #28084, Cosmos
    > 2399 deb C. The final
    > two elsets that have been published for this are:
    > Cosmos 2399 deb C                                226
    > x 173 km
    > 1 28084U 03035C   03325.95988775  .05438230  74591-5
    >  11866-2 0   209
    > 2 28084  64.9122 199.5078 0040600  74.7303 285.8173
    > 16.27502088   532
    > Cosmos 2399 deb C                                178
    > x 144 km
    > 1 28084U 03035C   03326.93968715  .15227562  77094-5
    >  48605-3 0   264
    > 2 28084  64.9369 195.7759 0026098  80.6253 280.0384
    > 16.41683098   699
    > 
    > A summary of my final Decay Watch notice is:
    >
    _____________________________________________________________________
    > Object: #28084 = 03- 35 C = Cosmos 2399 deb
    > Newly catalogued small debris of unknown origin
    > released from the
    > Cosmos 2399 Russian military photo-reconnaissance
    > satellite
    > launched on August 12, 2003.
    > (Dimensions and mass unknown)
    > 
    > Decay predictions:
    > Source   Prediction made    Predicted decay at     
    > Latitude Longitude
    >                UTC                UTC               
    >   deg      deg
    > SCC        Nov 23 03:57     Nov 23 03:28 +-49m      
    > 53.4 N   136.6 W
    > SatEvo     Nov 24 21:00     Nov 23 04:32 +-2h       
    > 34.6 N    83.7 E
    > 
    > Note: Elsets were few and far between, and late to
    > appear. My estimated
    > elset for the final equator crossing is:
    > Cosmos 2399 deb C                                130
    > x 116 km
    > 1 28084U 03035C   03327.18243893  .97901213  15016+2
    >  42593-3 0 90268
    > 2 28084  64.9326 194.8298 0010552  80.5107 279.6086
    > 16.56364584   735
    >
    _____________________________________________________________________
    > 
    > The orbit before my "final" one is...
    > 
    > Cosmos 2399 deb C                                151
    > x 128 km
    > 1 28084U 03035C   03327.12193730  .34446844  10725+1
    >  33300-3 0 90268
    > 2 28084  64.9344 195.0674 0017324  80.5394 279.6564
    > 16.49949172   722
    > 
    > ...and this, according to Mike McCants's Latlong
    > program, makes a pass
    > over Mark's area as follows:
    > 
    >          UTC
    >        Hr Mn Sc   Lat(N)   Long(W)
    >        3 28  0    40.8    122.4
    >        3 29  0    37.3    119.7
    >        3 30  0    33.8    117.3
    >        3 31  0    30.2    115.2
    >        3 32  0    26.6    113.2
    >        3 33  0    22.9    111.3
    > 
    > I also note that it passed through perigee at ~03:15
    > UTC.
    > 
    > 
    > Alan
    > -- 
    > Alan Pickup / COSPAR 2707:  55.8968N   3.1989W  
    > +208m   (WGS84 datum)
    > Edinburgh  / SatEvo Home Page:  
    > http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/
    > Scotland  / Decay Watch:
    > http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/dkwatch/
    
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