Exceptional (?) obs. of C*1461
Bjoern Gimle (b_gimle@algonet.se)
Thu, 8 Aug 1996 16:24:10 +0200 (MET DST)
Yesterday 960807 at 21:20 UT I happened to see a very bright
satellite at about 40 degrees elevation in the southeast,
from Delphinus to Pegasus. A search with SkyMap revealed no
candidate brighter than magnitude 5, but after computing an orbit,
and before reporting an unknown, I made another search with mag<6.0.
This satellite matches to the nearest second, but has a bit
more conservative magnitude in Rob Matson's magnitude file
than in Mike McCants', (where I have) +3.5.
Cosmos 1461, std mag. 1.6 ??
1 14064U 83044 A 96215.40290895 -.00000020 00000-0 20462-4 0 5407
2 14064 65.0117 274.1300 0161794 129.8990 231.6453 14.61577634596367
To match this observation, quicksat.mag should have 1.6,
satmag.dat 2.5 as standard magnitudes !
The satellite was steady, except for effect of phase and range.
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