Larry Wood asked: > McCants file had 12 NOSS triads listed. If looking in a pair > of binoculars from the city how many are visible ? The three triads launched in the 1990's are the most readily visible in binoculars (7x50's will do) - sometimes to the unaided eye. In Sep 2001, a NOSS duad was launched. See 01040A and B (NORAD 26905 and 26907). They look like a triad with one member missing. We will have to wait for another launch to determine whether or not the duad is intentional or the result of a failure to deploy one member of a triad. These objects are about the same brightness as the 1990's triad members. The triads launched in the 1970's and 80's consisted of smaller satellites, which could be seen using 11x80 binoculars. They too occasionally were visible to the unaided eye. Most of those triads have long ago drifted out of formation, but all of the individual members are still tracked by hobbyists. 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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