hello Ted, I just noticed that the clouds were suddenly gone here, and though "let's see if this object is visible this evening". Running predictions I noticed that it was visible at that moment (so I was more or less too late...) and hurried outside. As Ted didn't mention any brightness here, I was surprised to see an object with magnitude around +6 in my field. I could follow it from around 19h45m UT till it entered shadow around 19h47m47s. During this two and a half minute I did not notice any obvious magnitude changes, certainly no deep minimum was seen. I will try to make a longer obs one of the next days if wheather permits. Kurt Jonckheere From: Ted Molczan <molczan@rogers.com> Subject: USA 144 elements; photometric timings needed > Arc 2002 Dec 27 - 2003 Jan 17 UTC: > > USA 144 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.6 v > 1 25744U 99028A 03017.82938300 -.00000054 00000-0 -82890-2 0 07 > 2 25744 63.4491 297.9205 0239216 293.8148 63.7769 9.69791794 02 > > WRMS error = 0.008 deg > > SRP (Solar Radiation Pressure) will continue to raise the altitude of the orbit until 2003 Feb 03 UTC. > > From Feb 03 through Mar 15, the orbit will be in constant sunlight, resulting in near zero SRP effect on altitude. > > Accurate timings of the object's photometric may be helpful in settling the question of this object's identity. As I reported last > August, the magnitude of the SRP effects raise serious doubts as to the identity and nature of this object: > > http://satobs.org/seesat/Aug-2002/0045.html > > The object correlates strongly with the 99028A launch; however, based on its apparent size and the SRP effects, its mass appears to > be no more than 10 percent of the expected mass of the payload. It could be debris or even a decoy. > > Here are the most recent photometric timings: > > Observer Photometric Period - seconds > ------------------------------ -------------------------------- > 2002 Aug 10 Pierre Neirinck 119 +/- 6 > 2002 Aug 22 Ted Molczan 116.3 > 2002 Aug 31 Ted Molczan 113.8 > > Earlier timings are listed at the above URL. > > The object's slow rotation and deep minima make accurate timing a challenge. At times I thought I saw small, very brief secular > flashes that could provide a reference for timings. > > Ted Molczan > ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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