Unknown in Taurus

Larry Van Horn (steditor@grove.net)
Thu, 27 Mar 1997 11:25:19 -0500

Sometimes a possible visual obs happen by chance and last night was one of
those cases.  My better half Gayle and I were out enjoying the comet Hale
Bopp show in our great location (sw North carolina mountains -- no city
light pollution). While see was admiring HB in the 10 x 50s, I was casually
looking around other sections of the sky. Report follows:

Date/time: 3/27/97 at 0053 UTC (3/26/97 at 1953 EST)
Observer Location: 35 deg 02' 46.3"N/83 deg 56' 28"W at 502 meters alt
Location: About one degree south of Beta Taurus (El Nath). 
Apparent Magnitude: 0 or more

Narrative: I saw this object brighten very suddenly (yellow-gold color)
about 1 degree south of Beta Taurus. It looked nearly round and was as
bright or brighter than Venus. 
It appeared to me to be moving in a southerly direction . I only saw it for
about a second or so and it appeared to only move about 1/2 degree across
the sky, then it was gone.

I have done a lot of night sky observing over my Navy years (not much else
to do when you are at sea). In my nearly 25 years of night sky obs, I have
never seen this before. So to you experts here on Seesat: could this be a
glint that I have seen mentioned here from a orbiting object? If so, it
would be my first and I find that exciting.

Any help on this one would be appreciated.

Best Regards to all,

Larry Van Horn
Managing Editor
Satellite Times magazine


"Satellite Times Magazine - We cover space from LEO to GEO and beyond."

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