Re: Vanguard 1

Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Wed, 27 Aug 1997 17:21:38

Congrats Patrick.

You beat me to the punch.  I have tried twice in the last two weeks=20
to see it and failed. tomorrow morning is a 1500 km pass that "may"
be visible.

And yes, with a 35.5 cm scope..very likely.  A year or so ago I saw
it with my 8" (20.3 cm) telescope. It was bright enough that it may
have been faintly visible in binoculars.  Never did confirm that though.

If it was on track, time & direction, you probably saw it.  Will try to
run alldat.tle for your circumstance to verify no imposters, but you
can probably feel good about your accomplishment.

Ron "I wanna see it too" Lee
>And shortly thereafter, right in the place predicted and just a few
>seconds earlier than expected, just to the top of my field of view
>passed a tiny point of light.  A 39 year old, 15 cm sphere, 1840 km
>away.  Eureka!
>
>Now, of course I=92m feeling pretty pleased with myself, but before my e=
go
>gets the best of me, I wonder if any of the more experienced satellite
>watchers out there can comment on whether I really could have seen such
>a small object at such a great distance with such a relatively small
>scope.
>
>In other words, is it possible that I just happened to see something
>else and mistook it for Vanguard?
>--=20
>Patrick Wiggins, Hansen Planetarium, SLC, UT, USA
>email: w@apeleon.net
>WWW: web.state.ut.us/bbs/space
>snail mail: 15 S. State St., SLC, UT 84111-1590
>voice: 801.531-4952
>fax: 801.531-4948
>
>