Re: bright flare from defunct geosat

From: Ed Cannon (edcannonsat@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Jun 04 2006 - 04:19:56 EDT

  • Next message: Kevin Fetter: "Re: AM-11"

    Jeff Umbarger wrote late on June 3:
    
    > Saw AM-11 at 6:50:30UT at RA:15hr39min and Dec.:-5.5deg 
    > from Plano TX.... And it flares, with the same kind of 
    > pattern later and later each night. Expect to see it 
    > around 7UT tonight.
    
    I got Jeff's message at about 7:00 UTC (an hour ago) and 
    rushed outside (friends' house in suburbs with nice deck,
    Milky Way now faintly visible).  When I was sure that I 
    had found Express AM-11 (28234, 04-015A), it was about +4,
    at about 7:05 UTC -- at about RA 15:45.  It faded and 
    brightened roughly every 8 or 9 minutes, and the brightest
    that I saw this time was at about RA 16:00, when it was 
    nearly +2.0 -- as bright as the brightest stars in the 
    vicinity.  The maximum at about 16:18 or 16:19 was much
    fainter.  Tonight's main event was very roughly about 90
    minutes later than only 8 nights ago -- roughly 11-plus
    minutes, on average, later from one night to the next.
    
    Thanks, Jeff, for the heads up!  And it was great to have
    very nice weather to go along with it.
    
    Mike put his telescope on it about 90 minutes or so 
    earlier and found it (along with two other fainter ones 
    near it, to the east), but it was only about +9 at that
    time and seemingly not varying a lot in magnitude.
    
    Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA
    
    
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