Re: identification help asked

From: George Roberts (gr@gr5.org)
Date: Tue Jul 06 2010 - 13:26:32 UTC

  • Next message: Kevin Fetter: "twlight pass of the OTV, and to see what the other sat was."

    There's lots of satellites (thousands) passing between arcturus and the big dipper at that time - can you either supply RA, DEC plus 
    error or post your picture on a website and email a link to it and I can try to figure it out using a website that is good at 
    identifying pictures of stars?
    
    Also please supply your lat,lon within a few miles.
    
    - George Roberts
    http://gr5.org
    
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: "Ralf Vandebergh" <ralf.vandebergh@home.nl>
    To: <seesat-l@satobs.org>
    Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 5:24 AM
    Subject: identification help asked
    
    
    > Very high orbiting object; indication help asked!
    > _________________________________________________
    >
    > July 4:)I was at the the telescope to await Cosmos 1812 during
    > a routine imaging session with multiple targets. This sat did not
    > show up. However....
    >
    > Just a few minutes later, (22:40 UTC, July 4) a mag 1-2 object
    > appeared in the region between Arcturus and the Big Dipper. It
    > appeared as a fixed artificial star. It was directly clear this
    > must be an object in a very high orbit (estimated minimally 30.000km)
    > I directly manoeuvred the 10incher in position and I saw a very slow
    > movement of the object in the viewfinder.Images were obtained during
    > several seconds at 0.20''/p res.I just captured a few seconds of the
    > flare, and them brightness decreased back to a dim object. So I have
    > some frames of the flare and the decreasing trajectory back to a dim.
    > quick frame inspections revealed  a very small disk, which is likely
    > of an object at this distance.
    >
    > Almost immediately I realised this object showed all the properties
    > of the mysterious Trumpet 3 satellite (USA-136)in its molniya orbit,
    > which I observed some years back regularly in the vicinity of the Little
    > Dipper. So I checked inCalsky the positioins of all Trumpet satellites
    > in oribt but non of them seemed to be positioned in that region.
    > The closest, I believe, was USA-200 but it was in Hercules constellation.
    > The others were almost all positioned in the Eastern sky regions.
    >
    > Comparing the very low angular speed and comparable magnitude
    > as I have seen of USA-136, it is most likely that it must be an
    > object with comparable altitude and dimensions.
    >
    >
    > Has anyone a suggestion?
    >
    > Thanks in advance,
    >
    > Ralf Vandebergh
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