Re: Orange-Red satellite

From: Ralf Vandebergh (ralf.vandebergh@home.nl)
Date: Sun Jun 13 2010 - 16:56:15 UTC

  • Next message: Ted Molczan: "Updated elements"

    Hi Ted,
    
    Interesting that you mention about ERBS. I took recently a telescopic
    sequence of it.One of the first things I saw during quick-inspection was its
    obvious color.
    I have to process them yet, I have still a lot to go, including Terra from
    the same night.I can tell that ERBS is a very difficult target for the
    telescope, it looks
    very small, but let's see what comes out.
    
    Ralf
    
    
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Ted Molczan" <ssl3molcz@rogers.com>
    To: <SeeSat-L@satobs.org>
    Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 4:44 AM
    Subject: RE: Orange-Red satellite
    
    
    > Chris Spratt wrote:
    >
    > > Last night (June 11) at about 11:00pm PDT (-7 UTC) I saw through my
    > > binoculars a brightish (about mag. 2.5) reddish-orange satellite moving
    > > from North to the SE.
    > > When it crossed the line it was about 80 degrees up. Unable
    > > to id this one, and I have never see a satellite that color before.
    > >
    > > I believe that some satellites are a golden color but not the
    > > color of Mars.
    > >
    > > Any help iding this is appreciated.
    >
    > The four reddest satellites I know are:
    >
    > ERBS        84108B  15354
    > Lacrosse 2  91017A  21147
    > Lacrosse 3  97064A  25017
    > Lacrosse 4  00047A  26473
    >
    > You did not indicate the precision of the time of your observation, but
    > taken loosely, Lacrosse 3 may be a match. It made a NW-SE pass that
    > culminated 58 deg above the SW horizon at 10:28 PM PDT (Jun 12, 05:28
    UTC).
    > It is predicted to have reached mag 2.8 +/- 1.5. The elevation is lower
    than
    > you reported, but it is common to over-estimate elevation by 10 to 20 deg.
    >
    > If you are certain that you could not have seen Lacrosse 3, then I may
    still
    > be able to identify it, if you could provide more precise information,
    e.g.
    > describe its path through/near a constellation or near a star.
    >
    > The NRO "National Reconnaissance Office" released a photo of what is
    > believed to have been a Lacrosse under construction:
    >
    > http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/images/compos.jpg
    >
    > The gold coloured thermal blanket covering much of the surface of the
    first
    > four Lacrosses gave them their orange-red hue. Lacrosse 5 (05016A / 28646)
    > apparently uses little or no gold thermal blanket, so it appears nearly
    > colourless.
    >
    > The reddest satellite I have observed is ERBS (Earth Radiation Budget
    > Satellite), listed above. This photo of its deployment from shuttle
    > Challenger reveals that it was almost completely swathed in gold coloured
    > thermal blanket:
    >
    > http://satobs.org/seesat_ref/misc/ERBS_deployment.jpg
    >
    > It is currently making evening passes at your latitude, so you may wish to
    > have a look. I last observed it about 20 years ago, so would be interested
    > to learn whether or not it remains reddish.
    >
    > Ted Molczan
    >
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    >
    
    
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