Obs 9 & 10 Dec

Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Wed, 10 Dec 1997 03:22:57 -0600

Two very nice nights; these were all one-power from a poor location (Univ. 
of Texas at Austin campus, 30.286 north, 97.739 west, 150 m).  All the 
magnitudes are estimates based on Quicksat predictions and sky objects.
I still feel pretty unconfident about magnitudes unless there's an easy
comparison object nearby, but I believe that Quicksat's predicted ones
are pretty reliable.

Tuesday, 9 Dec 1997 UT (8 Dec. Monday evening local)
00:26:21  97- 64B, 25018, Lacrosse 3 Rk  -- mag +1.0-1.5?, tumbling
00:53:24  64- 53B, 00877, Cosmos 44 Rk   -- mag +3
00:53:59  88- 50A, 19210, Cosmos 1953    -- mag +3
01:09:40  90- 10B, 20466, Cosmos 2058 Rk -- mag +3
01:27:22  97- 64A, 25017, Lacrosse 3     -- mag +2.5
Much later I watched the Moon occult Saturn -- neat!

Wednesday, 10 Dec 1997 UT (9 Dec. Tuesday evening local, beautiful!)
00:08:07  78- 94A, 11055, Cosmos 1043    -- mag +1.3, sol el -8, great pass!
00:20:20  97- 64A, 25017, Lacrosse 3 Rk  -- mag +1.5, tumbling period=14.2 sec.
00:21:06  (Oops!  Missed Lacrosse 3, apparently while watching Lacrosse 3 Rk.)
00:22:49  93- 68B, 22878, GPS 2-23 Rk    -- mag +3
00:29:23  87- 24A, 17566, Cosmos 1825    -- mag +3
00:35:54  90- 10A, 20465, Cosmos 2058    -- mag +3, varying?
00:48:30  83- 37B, 14033, Cosmos 1455 Rk -- mag +3
01:12:19  88- 50A, 19210, Cosmos 1953    -- mag +2.5->inv, not timed,
distinctive 
                                            max-inv-spike-inv-max cycles
01:18:17  81- 82B, 12786, Cosmos 1300 Rk -- mag +3.2 (brighter than
predicted 3.5)

Also saw a nice GRO pass Monday morning; missed Tuesday morning Iridium 
flare due to serious need to be asleep at that time!  Haven't heard if 
anyone saw it.

Question:  Are *all* observations wanted in some such format as above, or
just selected ones that may be unusual in some way?  

Ed Cannon
ecannon@mail.utexas.edu
Austin, Texas, USA