TJM obs of 2006 Mar 03 UTC

From: Ted Molczan (seesat@rogers.com)
Date: Fri Mar 03 2006 - 07:28:36 EST

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    28646 05 016A   2701 G 20060303012623960 17 25 0401685-013398 67 S
    28646 05 016A   2701 G 20060303012729560 17 25 0437411+151016 67 S
    28646 05 016A   2701 G 20060303012731870 17 25 0439108+155612 97 S
    
    IOD format: http://www.satobs.org/position/IODformat.html
    
    Lacrosse 5 was about 0.2 s early relative these week-old elements:
    
    Lacrosse 5      15.0  4.0  0.0  2.5 v
    1 28646U 05016A   06054.69099923 -.00000078  00000-0 -18589-4 0    05
    2 28646  57.0134  91.5591 0004657  22.0551 338.0662 14.53342475    01
    Arc 2006 Jan 29.25 - Feb 23.75, WRMS residuals = 0.016 deg
    
    Like Ed Cannon, I observed optical behaviour atypical of this object. 
    
    Normally, its magnitude depends little on phase angle, but in this case, at
    phase angle 104 deg it was 2 to 3 magnitudes fainter than predicted, then
    brightened rapidly, so that by phase angle 90 deg it seemed brighter than
    average. Greg Roberts observed it fainter than average on 2006 Feb 23, as did
    Russell Eberst on Feb 19.
    
    During its first 9 days in orbit, the object was fainter, and its brightness
    much more dependent on phase angle, than at most subsequent times. Perhaps it
    has temporarily reverted to something like that mode. My speculation has been
    that the optical behaviour of the first 9 days was due to the SAR (synthetic
    aperture radar) not yet having been deployed. I doubt that the antenna would
    ever be re-stowed; most likely, its recent optical behaviour is due to the
    combination of a complex shape and an unusual attitude.
    
    Site 2701: 43.68764 N, 79.39243 W, 230 m
    
    Ted Molczan
    
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