I estimate the following orbital elements, assuming launch on 2006 Feb 10, at 21:00 UTC - the start of a 6 h launch window: Falconsat 2 r 3.4 1.7 0.0 6.6 d 1 72050U 06041.87777778 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 06 2 72050 39.0000 253.2748 0073000 70.0000 305.0000 15.39500000 07 The orbit crosses the U.S. west coast about 22 min after launch, near 39 N. It crosses the east coast 9 min later, near 33 N. A launch delay of several hours would result in a pass during evening twilight for parts of the U.S.A. According to this document, the 2nd stage will perform a second burn at T+1576 s, about 26m16s after launch: http://spacex.com/Maiden_Flight_Overview.pdf Based on the above elements, it will occur over approximately 38 N, 105 W. I estimate the 2nd stage will reach about magnitude 4 on a good pass. Its tiny Falconsat 2 payload (a 35.6 cm cube) will be difficult to observe even with large binoculars. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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