Re: flare from unknown satellite

Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Tue, 27 Jan 1998 19:28:42 -0700

I found #17621 passing 1/3 of the way between Betelgeuse and Bellatrix.
It is 81053KT so I would normally assume it is a small piece of junk.
Might be wrong of course.  Inclination 82 deg, mean motion 13.86.

Ron Lee




At 09:35 AM 1/27/98 +0100, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>Could someone identify this one ?
>
>Yesterday Jan 26 at 18:49:58UTC I saw a flare from an unknown satellite, mag
>+2 for approximately 4s close to Betelgeuse(alpha Ori).
>I couldn't keep track of the satellite because it disappeared.  It went
>through the constellation of Orion between Betelgeuse and Bellatrix(gamma
>Ori) but much closer to Betelgeuse and going down the constellation.
>Location was at Rijckevelde.(see below)
>I couldn't find a match in the Molczan or Elem file.
>
>Thanks for any help,
>
>
>Tristan Cools
>tcools@nic.INbe.net
>BWGS Member - Belgian Working Group Satellites
>
>Observing at:
>
>Damse Vaart: 3.2486E/51.2279N
>Rijckevelde: 3.2867E/51.2054N
>Brugge:      3.1611E/51.2108N		
>
>