Possible USA 193 debris obs?

From: Marco Langbroek (marco.langbroek@wanadoo.nl)
Date: Fri Mar 07 2008 - 22:03:07 UTC

  • Next message: Ted Molczan: "RE: Possible USA 193 debris obs?"

    Hi all,
    
    I might have done a chance observation of an (uncatalogued) piece of USA 193 
    debris this evening.
    
    I was observing a field centered near RA 15:00, dec +76 45' through which 
    Lacrosse 3 (97-064A) would pass at 19:46:30 UTC (March 7). Instrument: Meade 
    ETX-70 (7cm/F5 refractor) at 13.6x, FOV about 4 degrees.
    
    Suddenly a very fast object object of about mag +7.5 moved west-east through the 
    FOV somewhat south of the 97-064A trajectory and more or less parallel to it. It 
    was very fast, maybe going as fast as 1.5 degree/second, and it catched me 
    completely unaware. I therefore cannot give a very accurate time, buth with an 
    uncertainty of 10-20 seconds or so it was about 19:46:00 UTC. In IOD (but please 
    note the time uncertainty):
    
    99999 08 999A   4353 G 20080307194600000 17 75 1511063+756260 36 S
    
    It doesn't match any known object, but the general direction of movement matches 
    that of USA 193 debris and the speed is another reason to think of a potential 
    piece of USA 193 debris.
    
    - Marco
    
    -----
    Dr Marco Langbroek  -  SatTrackCam Leiden, the Netherlands.
    e-mail: sattrackcam@wanadoo.nl
    
    Cospar 4353 (Leiden):   52.15412 N, 4.49081 E (WGS84), +0 m ASL
    Cospar 4354 (De Wilck): 52.11685 N, 4.56016 E (WGS84), -2 m ASL
    SatTrackCam: http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek/satcam.html
    Station (b)log: http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com
    -----
    
    
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