> Sometime between 7-11 p.m. PDT, a modified Minuteman II target missile > will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Very interesting view of the launch from the High Desert. First sighting at 04:19:20 UT as an orange flame moving straight up directly west of my location (I'm about 330 km from VAFB). I could see the exhaust as a thin "smoke trail" in binoculars. About 40 seconds later the rocket exhaust became white, getting brighter and brighter for the next 30 seconds. The exhaust plume expanded to a full 40 degrees in width--this is what made the view so interesting because of its consistent brightness in the western sky as it continued to expand. I don't know if this was because of upper atmosphere moisture or airborne dust (we had high winds today). The rocket reached its apex from my point of view at about 55 degrees above the horizon. As the plume began to fade, it revealed a green shape in the middle that looked like the tail of a large comet. Five minutes after launch all that was visible in the sky was the eerie green "comet." Just prior to launch, as I scanned the western sky, I had a chance 1x sighting of Cosmos 1833r (17590, 87-27 B). Ralph McConahy 34.8829N 117.0064W 670m ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jul 07 2000 - 21:46:54 PDT