Possible ID for John: Orbital Mechanics Mini-lesson
Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Sun, 20 Dec 1998 10:48:44 -0700
NORAD( 1)=10306
1 10306U 77065DC 98344.53694606 +.00001195 +00000-0 +34798-3 0 07125
2 10306 029.1087 102.3177 0810173 028.4672 335.7805 13.30527005031662
SatName( 2)=UHF F6 Rk
NORAD( 2)=23697
1 23697U 95057B 98344.60237900 +.00007004 +00000-0 +17917-2 0 07994
2 23697 026.8586 071.4872 6616404 113.3326 326.4220 03.15139672035115
Two possible objects. I lean towards #23697 since it is likely much
larger than the other piece. It was also at a range of about 380 km
so it was near perigee. If you look at the mean motion (3.151 revs/day)
and eccentricity (0.6616) then it should have been moving very quickly.
If you assume a circular orbit, then your suggestion of an object near
decay would have been close. However, the eccentric orbit of this
object would have it moving slowly at apogee and zipping along at perigee.
Ron Lee
>Could someone please ID a SAT I saw this morning? I've tried on my end
>but came up with nothing. It was moving fairly fast, so I assumed, maybe
>a SAT close to decay for which I did not have the current TLE.
>
>N 26.46763
>W 81.82100
>7M
>Moving through Leo at approx. 1108 UTC, west to east, close to zenith,
>magnitude approx. +2.0
>
>Thanks,
>
>John
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