77-44A (10033) bright one-power flashes
Ed Cannon (edcannonutaustin@netscape.net)
10 Aug 99 19:43:13 CDT
The last two nights (9 and 10 August UTC) I observed bright one-power
(possibly as bright as -2?) flashes from 77-44A (10033, AMS 2/DMSP F2). In
each case I found it with binoculars and noticed that the flashes were
brightening significantly and began to watch it at one-power. Due to the age
of the elements, it's showing a fairly large time uncertainty in Quicksat
predictions, but I believe that it's really closer to the predicted time than
that due to low drag circular orbit. (I didn't have a chance to double-check
the timings on it yet.) Elements for this object are included in the mccants
(a.k.a. molczan) file and in Mike McCants' classfd.tle file.
Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA