Double Star 1

From: Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 26 2004 - 04:21:01 EST

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    First clear night in six.  Mike had predictions for Double Star 1
-- called "Tan Ce" ("Explorer") 1 in China, which is in an extremely 
eccentric orbit:

DOUBLESTAR (TC-1)
1 28140U 03061A   04020.43761405 -.00000732 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 00168
2 28140 028.2897 021.4342 8496920 125.5372 343.1727 00.87614703001040

Mike found it flashing!  As it got higher in the sky in the west and 
closer range, both Fred (7x50) and I (8x42) could see a fair portion 
of its maxima with our binoculars.  I believe the range at the time 
was about 3000 to 3500 km.  As this is a newly launched payload, I 
looked it up and found that it's fairly compact and is 
spin-stabilized at 15 rpm:

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=31616

Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA

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