Re: Unidentified Flying Object

Roland Vanderspek (roland@space.mit.edu)
Mon, 18 Nov 96 14:01:00 EST

>  >Naturally the object is some kind of satellite. It could be very
>  >interesting to know which one.
>  >
>  >At approximately october 11, 0:15:48 UTC the object was at position:
>  >0h 28m 45s
>  >+59 19' 9"
>  >
>  >45 seconds later the object was at position:
>  >0h 29m 31s
>  >+59 15' 40"
>  >
>  >I know the direction of motion because a part of the track is also
>  >visible at the images before and after in the time series.
>  >
> 
> Might it be possible that this is an LEO bird with a rapid flash period?
> It does not necessarily imply that the object took 45s to cross the field.
> If the trail "tapers" at both ends then I'd suspect a "flasher" was respon-
> sible.  I don't have any archived elsets, so I haven't been able to run
> QuickSat for that particular date, but I have a hunch we may be looking at
> a flash from Cosmos 2322 R.....
> 
> TTFN,
> Geoff

I have just one more data point, perhaps.  Using an automated wide-field
(20x15 degrees in each of eight fields-of-view) CCD system sensitive to 
m=9-10 in a five second exposure, we see lots of satellites, as you would 
expect.  Most are streaks, many are flashes, and we see stationary flashes
from geosynchronous satellites as well.  Over the last six years, we've seen 
several instances of what seem near-stationary satellites at an apparent 
declination of about 42 degrees:  the object moves very little (maybe an 
arc-minute or two) over 50 seconds.  For this particular program, these 
observations are noise, and it suffices that we saw it move to be able to 
reject it, so I don't have many more details at my fingertips.  However, 
these crude numbers may help you to narrow it down somewhat.  These 
observations were made at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, which is 
at 31.57 degrees north latitude and 2200 m altitude.

Roland Vanderspek