In message <l03110702b092eb39f0c8@[142.58.124.48]>, Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca> writes >A satellite just reentered over Vancouver, and I think some pieces >actually fell here in Burnaby! We saw debris falling from the sky >at 9:11 PST. Could someone please check that time for #25047 and >verify it? Could there be an exact three hour error in it? If so, >I'd like to know as soon as possible. BCTV is waiting for news. If >this is the satellite, what sort is it? "Kupon Platform" doesn't >mean much to me. > >All information is welcome. > >It was quite spectacular! More details later. Yes - I think this was the re-entry of #25047 ! The latest OIG elsets for this are: Kupon Platform? 142 x 134 km 1 25047U 97070C 97319.08131641 .15065432 12750-4 14910-3 0 202 2 25047 51.6192 303.0607 0006103 301.4540 58.6236 16.50650228 397 Kupon Platform? 139 x 124 km 1 25047U 97070C 97319.14177011 .15418202 12931-4 98767-4 0 212 2 25047 51.6306 302.7054 0011413 329.7985 30.1827 16.53074858 407 These show it running 22 and 33 seconds ahead of my decay prediction of a few hours ago. My latest analysis, completed _before_ I heard of the Vancouver sighting, suggested that there could have been one further equator crossing: Kupon Platform? 119 x 118 km 1 25047U 97070C 97319.20217523 .69601697 75634+1 24027-3 0 90236 2 25047 51.6222 302.3467 0001141 273.5094 86.4776 16.57978356 410 with decay on that rev at about 05:29 UTC. The latlong program (Mike McCants) gives the following ground track: Height UTC Latitude Longitude km h m deg N deg W 100 5 7 45.7 134.9 99 5 8 47.6 129.7 99 5 9 49.1 124.1 98 5 10 50.3 118.2 97 5 11 51.2 112.0 97 5 12 51.7 105.6 96 5 13 51.8 99.2 96 5 14 51.5 92.7 95 5 15 50.9 86.3 94 5 16 49.9 80.2 94 5 17 48.6 74.4 93 5 18 46.9 68.9 93 5 19 45.0 63.8 93 5 20 42.9 59.1 93 5 21 40.6 54.7 92 5 22 38.1 50.6 Note that the heights are too high if it was indeed re-entering. As to what the object is, I don't know - can Vladimir or anyone else enlighten us ? Whatever it was, it appeared to be quite massive for its cross-sectional area so that it lost altitude at a relatively slow rate. That made its decay prediction all the more difficult. Alan -- Alan Pickup | COSPAR site 2707: 55d53m48.7s N 3d11m51.2s W 156m asl Edinburgh | Home: alan@wingar.demon.co.uk +44 (0)131 477 9144 Scotland | SatEvo satellite page: http://www.wingar.demon.co.uk/satevo/