re-entry?

From: oliver (oconway@rochester.rr.com)
Date: Sun Aug 01 2004 - 23:46:47 EDT

  • Next message: Tony Beresford: "Re: re-entry?"

    Observed  from 43 0' N  78 11' W (Batavia NY) 8/1/04 between 20.20 hrs
    and 20.30 hrs
    at an altitude of approximately 80 degrees due South moving from West to
    East. I am not a skilled observer so please excuse my clumsy attempts to
    report this as clearly as you would like. I was standing outside a
    relative's house with several family members observing what a beautiful
    clear evening it was. Aircraft at high cruising altitude could be
    clearly observed. A few weeks prior I had observed a satellite from the
    same location. I asked for binoculars and focused on the object which
    appeared to be travelling around orbital speed. I handed the binoculars
    to my wife and continued to observe with the naked eye.
    She let out an exclamation and said it was breaking up into first two,
    then four, then multiple pieces over a ten to fifteen second period. At
    that point I could no longer see the object with the naked eye.
    How rare is it to observe an object re-entering the atmosphere through
    binoculars?
    Since my wife rarely looks through binoculars and more rarely looks
    skyward she was really impressed.
    Can anyone tell us what this object might have been? H2A DEB perhaps?
    
    
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