Last month, Ed Light reported 'bright "flashing/flaring"' of Helios 1B (99064A / 25977): http://satobs.org/seesat/Jun-2005/0050.html This morning, I happened to spot it as unknown in between clouds. It culminated on 2005 Jul 19 at 07:56:46 UTC, elevation 53 deg, azimuth 288 deg, It was faint at minima, but its maxima were more like flares, to about mag zero. I estimate that its flash period was between 10 and 20 s. Helios 1B was manoeuvred from its operational sun-synchronous altitude to its present 600+ km graveyard orbit in the fall of 2004, after its on-board batteries failed. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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