RE: Foton 12 R/B
Ted Molczan (molczan@home.com)
Fri, 24 Sep 1999 23:26:58 -0400
> It's still up....wow!! Reddish in color
> and about 4 minutes early on the following elset,
>
> Foton12 Soyuz r 7.4 2.4 0.0 5.5 d 10 225 x 172 km
> 1 25903U 99048B 99266.76080540 .03694740 85965-5 76763-3 0 445
> 2 25903 62.7758 153.1091 0040409 114.2091 247.4341 16.27947582 2256
>
> No signs of it entering the atmosphere. Estimated magnitude,
> -4. It was only in view for about 30 secs.
Using the elset closest in epoch to your observation:
1 25903U 99048 B 99268.04447280 .11018540 90653-5 21505-3 0 504
2 25903 62.7985 147.8535 0003029 141.2075 218.9170 16.47203761 2462
it appears that it WAS in the Earth's atmosphere. Note that it was in the
umbra of the Earth's shadow for the entire of duration of the pass you
observed at 21:36 EDT (01:36 UTC on 25 Sep):
24/ 9/99 20:21 - 06:13 DST J2000.0 EL > 1 Mike DiMuzio
FOTON 12 r 99048B 25903 Bull = 50 Mike Dimuzio
SGP4 Age = 0.0 d Unc = 0 s ( 50%)
TIME %I Mv AZ EL R.A. DEC FE VANG RANGE ALT
-------- -- ---- --- -- -------- --------- -- ---- ----- ----
-
21:34:01 UMBRA 310 0 12:28:44 30:11:53 4 0.12 1301
149
21:35:06 UMBRA 300 6 13:19:51 27:11:54 4 0.25 853
149
21:35:36 UMBRA 291 9 13:59:30 22:51:04 4 0.41 665
148
21:35:54 UMBRA 283 12 14:31:46 18:11:01 4 0.57 565
148
21:36:07 UMBRA 274 14 15:00:11 13:19:13 3 0.72 504
148
21:36:17 UMBRA 267 16 15:25:16 08:31:55 3 0.85 466
148
21:36:26 UMBRA 258 17 15:50:13 03:25:16 3 0.95 439
148
21:36:34 UMBRA 250 18 16:14:06 -01:39:50 3 1.03 424
147
21:36:41 UMBRA 242 19 16:36:02 -06:22:55 3 1.07 417
147
21:36:48 UMBRA 235 19 16:58:37 -11:09:57 3 1.08 416
147
21:36:55 UMBRA 227 18 17:21:28 -15:49:16 3 1.05 423
147
21:37:02 UMBRA 220 18 17:44:11 -20:10:29 3 0.99 435
147
21:37:10 UMBRA 212 17 18:09:28 -24:37:37 3 0.91 457
147
21:37:18 UMBRA 205 15 18:33:33 -28:26:39 3 0.81 485
147
21:37:27 UMBRA 199 14 18:58:48 -31:59:17 3 0.70 523
147
21:37:38 UMBRA 192 12 19:26:38 -35:22:19 2 0.58 577
147
21:37:51 UMBRA 186 10 19:55:11 -38:19:01 2 0.47 649
146
21:38:07 UMBRA 180 8 20:24:25 -40:51:04 2 0.36 745
146
21:38:28 UMBRA 175 5 20:54:45 -43:03:32 2 0.27 881
146
21:38:56 UMBRA 170 3 21:25:00 -44:57:34 2 0.19 1071
146
21:39:36 UMBRA 165 0 21:55:34 -46:45:33 2 0.13 1353
145
so I submit that the magnitude -4 and reddish colour was due to the object
glowing due to the heat of entry.
Ted Molczan
P.S. Congratulations!