Obs in Moscow Apr 4-5

VideoCosmos (icosmos@dol.ru)
Sun, 5 Apr 1998 23:09:24 +0400 (MSD)

Hi,

Here's a couple of observations.

Apr 04:

Lacrosse 2 passed slightly E of Upsilon Her (16h 02.8m; +46 deg 02 min,
2000.0) at 17:16:55 UTC +/- 1 sec.

Observed a satellite that could be USA 86 in NE but was unable to identify
stars in strong city light and haze. Timed two more or less close passes near
stars, at 18:17:32 and 18:18:12 UTC. The first one could be Gamma Dra.

Iridium 19 flare (-6m) at 19:16:28 was nice, but in the same haze it
wasn't too spectacular.

Apr 05:

Lacrosse 2 almost eclipsed Capella at 17:45:46 UTC.

USA 129 was spotted in NE, as USA 86 the day before. While it wasn't easy 
to identify stars, I believe that at 18:01:32 UTC it passed near a 4.51m star in 
Cepheus (20h 45.3m; +57 deg 35 min). If this identification is correct,
USA 129 was some 75 seconds late with relation to the elset:

USA 129         15.0  3.0  0.0  5.1 v            979 x 265
1 24680U 96072  A 98070.83701467  .00022000  00000-0  21865-3 0    06
2 24680  97.8430 132.1314 0510000 154.5534 205.4465 14.82197530    07

Igor Lissov
55.635N, 37.474E, 250 m