A rare Highfly treat

Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Thu, 06 May 1999 03:19:33 -0500

This object (also known as PRC-26 Rk):

CZ-3 R/B
1 20474U 90011B   99125.29291101  .00000944  00000-0  10176-2 0  3661
2 20474  30.3967  82.3930 7072616  68.8076 349.5697  2.51047915 81934

made a rare (I think it's rare!) near-perigee (86 alt, 241 az) 
pass over Austin and certainly reached the Highfly predicted 
+1.5 magnitude as it hurried overhead!  Its range was 387 km.  
(Its perigee is 316 km, apogee is 32,666 km, and its latest RCS 
is about 14 m^2.)  

I wish I'd have managed to get word to Sue about this one also!

Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA