Unid satellite?

From: larryc@northwest.com
Date: Sat Oct 09 2004 - 00:44:56 EDT

  • Next message: Björn Gimle: "Re: Unid satellite?"

    Hello. I am a new person in this group. I've been using the
    Heaven's Above website (for about 2 yrs) to monitor sat
    passes.
    
    I live in Aloha, Oregon, at 45N30, 122W50, approx.
    
    On Tuesday, October 5th, I was observing the pass of
    LaCrosse-4, at 1219 UTC. As the sat nearly eclipsed Polaris,
    I caught the glint of another sat, very bright, moving
    nearly exactly West-East. Magnitude estimated at 1 or even 0
    but not brighter, compared to the stars in constellations
    Orion and Big Dipper.
    
    The sat was passing directly overhead (85-90 degrees
    altitude), moving from west to east. It had to come out of
    the Earth's shadow as it as moving from west to east. The
    apparent paths of this sat and LaCrosse-4 would have crossed
    in the sky, and I did not notice it when LaCrosse-4 came out
    of the Earth shadow.
    
    Weather was cold, and the sky was unusually clear for
    observing.
    
    Also, commercial aircraft do not move from due West to due
    East in this part of the country.
    
    The sat did not appear on the list of observables generated
    by Heaven's Above. Color was incredibly pure white, with
    just a hint of blue.  I followed it visually into the East,
    until it was lost in the trees.
    
    Is this enough to go on? If not, I'll offer whatever else I
    can.
    
    Many thanx.
    
    One more thing: LaCrosse-4 was blinking erratically and
    quickly, from what I could observe. Several times per second
    for less than a second, then nothing, then resume several
    times per second for less than a second.
    
    LarryC
    
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