freebie satellite ID puzzle

Robert Preston (rapr@med.pitt.edu)
Thu, 13 Jul 1995 09:45:12 -0700

I set my 20 cm scope to look at Jupiter using an eyepiece with a 20 arcmin
field of view.  Immediately a satellite entered the field and I began to
track it manually using the 8x50mm finderscope, mainly.  It was
indistinguishable from a point-source at 100x in the main scope. No flashing
that I could detect (but I am unskilled at such).  For those of you who like
a puzzle, the details are: site is 79 deg 55 min W, 40 deg 28 min N.
Time at Jupiter (alt 28.1 deg, azi 191.4 deg) was 02:58 7/13 UT.
Time near (+/- 2 deg.) gamma Ursa majoris (alt 38 deg. azi 313 deg) 03:02:30,
(+/- 5 sec) 7/13 UT.  Magnitude was about 3(+/-1) at Jupiter, 5(+/-1) at Ursa
major (hard to guess since it was heavily polluted sky).  Name that sat!

Robert Preston
Pittsburgh, PA
79deg 54' 41" W - 40deg 28' 11" N - 300 m/990ft
rapr@med.pitt.edu