The sky cleared up for a night so I took my 10x50 binoculars and did a few obs. I started with CZ-4C R/B (2008-026B) which I picked up next to Eps UMa at 21:04:19 UTC, 16-JUN-08. It first remained at an almost constant magnitude (about mag 3 or 3.5) but after about half a minute it varied its brightness slowly at first but then ever faster and stronger until after about a minute there was a chaotic sequence of flares, flashes and fadings of different durations and magnitudes which went on until I lost sight of it after another minute or so (didn't do any timings on that - sorry). The respective FENGYUN 3A payload (2008-026A) showed up 20 minutes later but that pass was at a weak and rather uneventful mag 5 (I have observed it a few times since its launch and it always came up this weak). I picked up USA 186 on time next to Beta Leo at 21:30:13 UTC, 16-JUN-08, and just five seconds later there was a quick bright flare (more of a flash actually). Another bright flare (lasting two or three seconds) occurred at 21:31:12 UTC. The flares were negative mag, otherwise the brightness was almost constant at something like mag 3. Lacrosse 5 (2005-016A) showed up too at that time and when I first looked at it at 21:35:15 UTC, 16-JUN-08 it was at about mag 2.5. I was distracted for a moment and when I looked again half a minute later it showed a weak reddish mag 5. So Lacrosse 5 must have done its disappearance trick again at around 21:35:30 UTC. Gerhard HOLTKAMP Darmstadt, Germany 49.8822N, 8.6558E ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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