GLobalstar 2 spotted
Bud Smith (budsmith@mail1.nai.net)
Fri, 24 Apr 1998 21:13:00 -0400
We just spotted the globalstar sat at 00:34:00 UTC. in late nautical
twilight here in the Northeast US. Being so light we didnt expect to see
much as the stars in Auriga were just coming into view. As the time came
for the sat to pass between Theta and Beta Auriga a large plume of vapor
became visible. The plume streched easily 1/2 of the distance between these
two stars and took on the shape of a "large mushroom" as my wife descibes
it. A second smaller plume which lasted for about 15 seconds became
visible. Both of these were naked eye visible although absolutely
spectacular in the 7x50's. I then was able to track the sat across the
zenith and to the NE under Ursa Major. I wasnt able to see any of the 4
payload objects but heard on the launch coverage that they were being
released some minutes earlier. What a truly spectacular sight!!
Elsets used were from the post from Ron Lee earlier today:
Globalstar, 24 Apr 98, 22:38:34 UT
1 91234U 980xxA 98115.01050429 -.00000116 00000-0 00000+0 0 13
2 91234 52.0033 89.0530 0009877 258.4010 101.5767 13.02667966 03
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Bud Smith email: budsmith@ct1.nai.net
Newtown, Connecticut USA
lat. 41.2539N lon. 73.2120W 110m ASL
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