I have been observing Vuyatela cam at http://www.africam.com - the main purpose of this site is to observe animals in the wildlife park. However it also has a good view of the night sky with very little clutter from manmade light sources. I am told by the site managers that they have an excellent view of the sky and see many objects. Recent observations I have made on the cam have included the ISS and what appeared to be the Milstar rocket. I have also been looking out for a Iridium flares after an accidental possible sighting before I knew what they were. Unfortunately every time a mag -7 or similar flare has been expected the cam has malfunctioned, suggesting that the autofocus can't cope! Location is 25 42.467S and 31 32.091 E and direction of cam is 021 degrees. I am unsure of the extent of the field of vision. At 20:14:11 on Sunday 2 March 2003 according to the camera timestamp I observed a very bright object which appears to have a trail indicating movement from right to left of the cam from the viewer's perspective (presumably east to west based on the information above.) Altitude appears to be quite low. Jupiter or Saturn is also clearly visible a few degrees further east and higher. The unidentified object was not present in subsequent frames- the cam refreshes every 30 seconds. The accuracy of the timestamp is not guaranteed but is probably correct to within about two minutes. It has been suggested to me that this could be a remnant of the Antarctic meteor shower- however I need to eliminate or confirm the possibility it was a manmade object and the Heavens Above site is still down. Can someone please assist with ID? Picture is available on request on condition it is not published without permission of Africam, whose assistance in pinpointing the location and direction of cam is acknowledged. Thanks Robert Holdsworth Wainuiomata New Zealand. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from SeeSat-L, send a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@satobs.org List archived at http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 03 2003 - 00:51:31 EST