Gerhard HOLTKAMP wrote: >CZ-4C R/B (2008-026B)... 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... The respective FENGYUN >3A payload (2008-026A) showed up 20 minutes later but that pass was at a weak >and rather uneventful mag 5 > USA 186... 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)... 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, this matches what I've seen lately, except for 08-26B, which I recorded as a fairly steady variation: 08- 26 B 08-05-29 03:00:49 BY 116.7 0.4 18 6.48 A 6->7 So perhaps it has gone "haywire" and will be a better show. 8-26A is steady and dim. USA 186 fairly consistently gives that "pre-flare" flash you described, rarely twice and then flares 2-3 seconds quite brightly. 2005-016A has been very bright lately, almost matching Arcturus a few nights ago. As I get timings on it, it is almost too bright to see stars it passes, and then, I turn to write down a number and its gone to the eye, 5 mag or less, just as you said. Weird behavior! Brad Young TULSA 1 COSPAR 8336 36.1397N, 95.9838W, 205m ASL ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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