Re: GLobalstar 2 spotted
Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Fri, 24 Apr 1998 20:52:11 -0600
You sure know how to make a guy feel bad. :) Not only did you spot it before
me but you very likely saw the SECO 4 depletion burn that should have
occurred about 00:33:34 UT. That must have been a great thing to see.
I have wanted to see such an event for many years but just have been in
the right place at the right time. Congratulations!!!!
Ron Lee
At 09:13 PM 4/24/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>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
>
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>Bud Smith email: budsmith@ct1.nai.net
>Newtown, Connecticut USA
>lat. 41.2539N lon. 73.2120W 110m ASL
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>
>