Roy Tucker wrote: > I have a very puzzling image here and I thought I might ask if anyone >has a better explanation than I have come up with. > The image appears to be a streak about 25 arcminutes long, oriented >principally in the north-south direction. The image was acquired in >scan-mode and every time a parallel shift occurs, there is a little jog in >the trail. Knowing the distance between jogs and the frequency of the >parallel shifts, I can say that the object is moving about 0.32 degrees per >second. It should be possible to determine from the direction of the jog if >the object is moving north or south. I believe the object is moving south >but I haven't gone through the rigorous analysis of this before so I could >be 180 degrees out. This is most likely some sort of earth-orbiting >artificial satellite. The odd thing is the appearance of the streak. It > Z03F01 C2005 12 29.20046 05 00 58.38 +12 16 36.7 683 The movement would be compatible with a satellite at about 690 km altitude and 81 deg. inclination. I think this is typical for Russian satellites. But such a satellite would have been in shadow at the time of observation. > The only explanation that I can think of is that I recorded a rocket >engine firing. The flare of light may be the expanding incandescent plume. If it was indeed a Russian satellite would they perform maneuvers outside of groundstation contact? Could an old rocket stage have exploded? (Wild speculation, I know!) Gerhard HOLTKAMP Darmstadt, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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