Does anyone know what the oldest objects still in Earth Orbit are?
Is Telstar 1 the oldest of them all?
Matt Fawcett
53.893N 0.273W
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Tiros 1 - 40th anniversary
Author: SeeSat-L@blackadder.lmsal.com at MHS
Date: 03/04/2000 05:55
Hi all -
Last night being the 40th anniversary of the launch of the
world's first weather satellite, Tiros 1, I decided to celebrate
by observing this object. So, I ran Quicksat (predictions
below), set up my 12-inch reflector pointed at the appointed
spot, and there it was. Being a meteorologist who remembers the
day when the first images were beamed down, this was a special
sighting!
I then noticed that another oldie, Telstar 1, was due an hour
later. So, once again, with the help of Quicksat and the 12-
inch, there it was - this time with the tunes of the instrumental
"Telstar" (by a group called the Tornadoes) rolling through my
head.
As someone on this list called them, these "orbiting antiques"
are a thrill to follow!
By the way, to keep the information content of these messages up
to par, I made some magnitude estimates:
Tiros 1 was mag. 8.7; Telstar 1 was 10.8.
2000 Apr 2 SunUT214 1156
H M S Al AziC Dir Mag Dys Hgt Shd Rng R A Dec Name
2 51 21 41 141C 271 7.7 4 412 110 591 1025 -1.8 Tiros 1
3 58 38 52 132C 271 11.0 4 32681491 3693 1132 10.3 Telstar 1
cheers, Rich Keen
Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado, USA (39.877N, 105.391W, elev 2728m)
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