STS-88 and Zarya Obs

Bryan Dort (bdort@agh.org)
Fri, 4 Dec 1998 09:28:08 -0500

With an unusally clear December Michigan morning (with the rest of the state
under a layer a fog), I observed Endeavour and Zarya!

Endeavour passed first at about 11:50 UTC about 20 degree elevation,
straight North with a mag of approx +1.  Zarya was next and about 10 degrees
higher in the sky and about 1 minute later and wasn't as bright, maybe +2. I
almost gave up on Zarya because I thought it was taking too long.  Then I
caught and and looked at my watch.  Only 1 minute difference, but it seemed
more like three.  Funny how that is.  Patience pays off.

(Sorry for all of the "about" and "approx".  I was walking the dog, and
expecting to see something else besides STS and ISS.)


When I came back in, I verified the obs with STSPlus with the following
TLEs:

STS-88
1 99988U          98338.38899695  .00088240  32308-7  60157-4 0    13
2 99988  51.5986  97.1689 0091367   9.9732 184.4210 16.06870063    13
ISS
1 25544U 98067A   98335.78840730  .00024913  00000-0  31408-3 0   657
2 25544  51.5950 109.5755 0008696 245.5187 114.4910 15.59407284  1815

BTW, nice to be back with the SEESAT group after an extended abscence.

Bryan
--
Bryan Dort - bdort@agh.org
Senior Programmer Analyst
Alpena General Hospital - http://www.agh.org
Alpena, MI  USA   45.0524N  83.4575W 200m