J. Thomas Jeffrey wrote: > I had just seen my first satellite with my new 20X90 > binoculars (Cosmos 1726 passing through Lyra) on > June 4 at 0605 UT. I followed the satellite for about > 60 seconds. > > I then turned and looked south and just north of the > star Spica I was shocked to see two very bright objects > very close together heading north. They were both very > bright (I would estimate magnitude -4). I had apparently > caught them when they were both undergoing a flare. Within > a minute they were no longer visible to the naked eye. I > followed them with my binoculars. Both of them were visible > within the same field of view about 3 degrees apart. One > object appeared to orangish in color (like Gravity Probe B). I agree with Ed Cannon, that the NOSS objects 03054A and C (28095 and 28097) are good candidates, but there is one significant discrepancy: their path never placed them just north of Spica. Assuming your site was Bend, Oregon, Cosmos 1726 passed a fraction of a degree below Vega at 06:05:01 UTC. If you followed it to eclipse at about 06:06:14 UTC, that would agree with your report of having followed it for about 60 s. If you turned toward the south several seconds later, then 03054A and C were roughly one deg above Gamma Virginis, a mag 3.5 star. In reconstructing events, could you have mistakenly chosen it over Spica? NOSS satellites certainly have been known to flare brilliantly; there are links to reports by Sue Wheatley and Ed Cannon on the NOSS page: http://www.satobs.org/noss.html#NOSS3 Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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