Hi all, Object 32379/07060B, the Atlas 5 Centaur upper stage that launched SDS 3F5 into a Molniya orbit is currently in a 254 km by 14200 km orbit with its perigee placed around latitude 52 deg North near the evening terminator. This means that the upper stage is visible near perigee when it is moving at 9.5 km/s. This is at least 1.5 km/s faster than other LEO objects. Last night, my camera pointing towards 30 deg azimuth, 30 deg elevation caught the Centaur moving through the entire 7 deg field-of-view within a single 10 second exposure at a whopping speed of a degree per second! For European observers, favorable passes are predicted for April 3rd, with shadow entry at 19:54:52UTC, April 5th with shadow entry at 20:09:59UTC, and for April 7th, 20:24:52UTC. Favorable passes are also visible for the North of the United States and Canada. Regards, Cees _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Fri Apr 02 2021 - 02:17:02 UTC
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