Centaur Rocket 97 68B
Mike McCants (mikem@fc.net)
Mon, 17 Nov 1997 00:18:15 -0600 (CST)
I did not try to search for 97 68A,B under clear, full moon
skies last night. After about 40 minutes of searching tonight,
I believe that I spotted the Centaur Rocket. It was tumbling
rapidly, with a period of 1.20 seconds. At a range of about
18000 miles, it was flashing to about magnitude 9.
I have fit my previous elements (for the payload) to an observation
tonight and derived the following elements:
Centaur Rk
1 25035U 97068B 97320.63058562 0.00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 03
2 25035 64.6900 335.3593 7190000 270.4703 89.5297 2.02944000 04
I was able to track it for about 10 minutes to determine that it was
moving in the proper direction with the proper angular velocity.
I wanted to search for the payload, but clouds moved in very shortly
after I resumed my search. My guess is that the payload will be
1 or 2 hours later than the rocket in an orbit with a correspondingly
lower mean motion. Also, 64.7 is 1 or 2 degrees higher than what
I believe would be the proper inclination for zero precession of the
perigee.
Mike McCants