Fwd: Decay of Cosmos 1315

From: Robert Holdsworth via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 10:32:47 +1200
I also had some scepticism about relevance of the Kelburn Wellington
report in view of the lack of detailed information and also the fact
that the satellite appeared to have already decayed prior to the
reported sighting.  I have repeatedly posted on the weatherwatch
meteors page about the need to provide at least time as exactly as
possible, trajectory, duration and approximate elevation but this has
fallen on deaf ears.  I have asked for more information on the
sighting and included a plea to the moderator to ask that the main
post ask for this information on all posts to avoid the "I saw a
bright light in the sky last night" type of posting and hopefully get
some useful or at least interesting sightings.

However some factors I failed to draw attention to last night owing to
the fact that it was getting late and I needed to sleep were that the
observation was made from Oriental Bay looking towards Kelburn and the
reference is  to "towards Kelburn horizon." This indicates a pass to
the west and just above hills which would mean an elevation of
probably more than 20 or 30 degrees which together with the time is a
good fit.  The sun was well below the horizon so there is no
possibility of any object being solar illuminated.  Unfortunately the
weather means reference stars would probably not be an option.   I too
would have been in considerable doubt about any possibility of this
being related to Cosmos 1315/debris  were it not for the fact that the
timing is so close together with the azimuth and elevation being about
right.  If the observer gives a trajectory that fits it seems more
than coincidence though the detailed description of exactly what was
involved may remain a mystery!


Robert




On 1 September 2015 at 01:32, Ted Molczan via Seesat-l
<seesat-l_at_satobs.org> wrote:
> Here is a shorter link to the AMS reports:
>
> http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/browse_reports?event=PENDING
>
> Ted Molczan
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Seesat-l mailing list
> http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
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Received on Mon Aug 31 2015 - 17:34:02 UTC

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