Bright Oko-Flasher observed

Rainer Kracht (R.Kracht@t-online.de)
Sun, 28 Jan 96 01:07 +0100

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This evening (Jan 27) I saw three flashes from Cosmos 903 (77-27A,9911)
shortly before it entered the Earth's shadow. First flash was
near 9h05.5m, 51d40' +/- 0.1 deg (2000.0) at 20:46:03 UTC. Maximum 
brightness was about mag 3.5. The next flash was about mag 4, the
third had mag 5. Flash period was 35 seconds. Between flashes the
satellite was invisible with my 10x50 binoc (limit was mag 8.0).

Cosmos 903 is an Oko early warning satellite in a Molniya orbit:

Cosmos 903
1 09911U 77027A   96025.16573559 +.00000340 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 00673
2 09911 067.5246 326.0624 6602341 173.9533 202.1975 02.00412678137689

Its slant range was approx. 5000 km, phase angle was 34 to 29 deg.
It moved with 0.09 deg/s.

Rainer Kracht   Jan 28
0412188960-0001@t-online.de
R.Kracht@t-online.de
+9.6626E, +53.7695N, 9m

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