Re: unidentified object on 8/12 at 8:26UT
Mike McCants (mikem@sterinfo.com)
Mon, 12 Aug 1996 12:21:31 -0500
>Vince Gardiner wrote:
>At about 08.26 UT this day 12th aug 1996 we observed a flasher moving
>through Corona Borealis from approx 300 to app 70 deg az.
There are a number of interesting objects with low inclinations and
high eccentricity. I observed this Centaur rocket, Comstar 3 Rk,
10976, 78 68B, in April with a flash period of 4.8 seconds.
1 10976U 78068B 96221.31545831 -.00000015 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 08149
2 10976 021.8239 312.0307 7170042 265.4992 017.3172 02.22048465146863
Here is a prediction from Highfly:
Lat -30.335 Long -153.082 (East is negative for Highfly, too.)
*** 1996 Aug 12/13 Mon evening/Tue morning *** Times are UT
NCAT 10976 Comstar 3 Rk Mag 3.0 Elap Dy 5 M2 0
HRS MIN ALT AZI MAG HGT R A DEC RANGE
8 22 21 315 6.4 440 12 53.0 23.1 965
8 23 29 336 5.2 477 14 25.0 27.2 858
8 24 32 3 4.7 525 16 9.5 28.0 876
8 25 30 25 4.8 585 17 36.4 25.6 1010
8 26 25 40 5.1 656 18 36.4 22.5 1220
8 27 21 49 5.6 737 19 17.0 20.0 1472
Yes, the flashes are about 3 magnitudes brighter than the mag prediction
given here.
Highfly version 1.10 is now available in my ftp area as hghfl110.zip.
(http://www.fc.net/~mikem/ or ftp://ftp.fc.net/pub/users/mikem/
or ftp ftp.fc.net, cd pub/users/mikem, binary, get hghfl110.zip)
(No, Jay, your requested enhancements are not in this version.)
Elements for eccentric objects are in eccen.zip.
Mike McCants
mikem@fc.net