Observations 17 Feb

From: Michael McCants (mmccants@jump.net)
Date: Sun Feb 18 2001 - 13:11:06 PST

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    Observations last night from Bee Caves Research Center:
    
    Object 11006 was observed to be about 5 minutes late on the
    elset available from OIG that is 74 days old.
    
    I have generated the following updated elset:
    
    ISEE r           5.9  2.4  0.0  5.5 d   14
    1 11006U 78079C   01049.06899195 0.00000500  00000-0  30184-3 0    07
    2 11006  28.2195   6.4334 1279311 194.3164 165.6827 12.17366251    08
    
    Lacrosse 4 flared to about magnitude 0.
    
    About 10PM I put in my new eyepiece that gives a 0.6 degree field
    at 85x.  Object 90005 (99304) (99 804A) was very easily visible
    flashing to magnitude 10 at alt 50, azi 234.  I timed 100 cycles
    in 99.0 seconds for a period of 0.990.
    
    I looked low in the southwest for object 90007 and spotted a flashing
    object.  It flashed to magnitude 11 or 12 with a period of 1.8 seconds.
    Ed and I tracked it for an hour, but when I got home, findsat identified
    it as ANIK C2 (14133, 83 59B).  Ed sent me a message:
    
    >On Encylopedia Astronautica it says "Anik C2 (Telesat 7)"
    >is an HS 376, spin-stabilized at 50 rpm.  Sat Sit Rept 
    >says 14133 is "Nahuel I2 (Anik C2)", but E.A. says first 
    >Nahuel was in 1997.  It was put into orbit by 
    >Space Shuttle STS-7.
    
    ETS-6 was timed at 312.4 seconds for 32 cycles = 9.76 seconds.
    It gave naked-eye flashes at 2:45-2:46 and again at 2:54-2:55 UT Feb 18.
    
    Orion 3 was timed at 9 cycles in 95 seconds = 10.5 seconds.
    
    Cosmos 2266 Rk (93 70B) was timed at 4 cycles in 61 seconds = 15 seconds.
    It seems to be going up slowly.  The PPAS timings in Oct/Nov were
    12 and 24 seconds.
    
    Object 08197 was observed to vary irregularly from magnitude 9 to 10.
    I have wondered if this is really the ETS-1 payload instead of its
    rocket.  Apparently it is the payload.
    
    It is possible that Ed saw one naked-eye flash from TELE-X about
    3:10 UT.
    
    Mike McCants
    
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