Obs 970124 and 25

Leo Barhorst (leobarhorst@pi.net)
Sun, 26 Jan 1997 16:00:58 +0100

After several days with clouds it was claer Jan 24th; although some fog at the
horizon; after I observed 90-78 B the fog moved in and I had to stop.
Jan 25 it became clear later in the evening and I was able to do some observations
before the earthshadow came to high.

63- 38 A 97-01-25 20:16      LB                       S, mag 7
78- 18 B 97-01-25 19:14:37   LB   61.4 1.0  20  3.07  FF, mag 5->7, sm, mag 7
78- 42 A 97-01-25 19:39:13   LB   76.3 0.2  14  5.45  FF, mag 6->inv, 1 fl -1
88-  1 A 97-01-25 18:52      LB                       S, mag 3
90- 78 B 97-01-24 17:30      LB                       almost S, mag 5
92-  8 B 97-01-25 20:16:27   LB  126.4 0.2  22  5.75  FF, mag 4->inv
94- 24 B 97-01-25 19:00:50   LB  196.1 1.0   2 98.0   MM, mag 3->7
94- 77 B 97-01-25 19:10:33   LB   59.9 1.0   1 60     MM, mag 3->7

Notes:
63- 38 A
I picked up this sat when I was observing 92- 8 B, which was followed by a few 
degrees by this faint sat, the Ablestarrocket of the Transit 5B-1 launch. Last obs
was on 89-02-08 by Horst Kohnke, who saw it also S. This is one of the objects in 
the PPAS ORBIT program. Identification was done by using Skymap.
78- 18 B
It seems 78- 18 B is accelerating a bit. In dec 96 it was 3.11 and has during jan 97
gradually come down and is now 3.07 sec.
78- 42 A
Not quite clear what the real period is. I timed the following sharp flashes:
17.97 4.38 6.36 12.37 20.66 3.70 5.66 5.20 sec.
One flash was very bright to mag -1; some to mag 3.
92-  8 B
Is absolutely accelerating! Was 12.79 sec in dec 96; and now 5.75 sec! Even if this
is the half period ( what I doubt, as all flashes were equally bright) it still has 
accelerate.

-- 
Greetings and clear skies

Leo Barhorst		Alkmaar			The Netherlands
52.65 North		4.767 East		1 m ASL
Member of Seesat-L
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Every day I wonder about the things I see in the (night)sky