New Flasher, Molniya 1-49

Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Sat, 06 Nov 1999 21:42:18 -0700

81-009 A 99-11-07 03:35      RGL   6   2     1  6       Mental count

While waiting for another satellite, I observed one moving slowly
southward flashing at about a 6 second period (mental count).

It was easily seen in 7x50 binoculars..perhaps as bright as mag 6
at a range of 9000 km.  Later I ran Skymap with ALLDAT.TLE and 
#12156 (81-009A, Molniya 1-49) matched.  I saw no report of it 
in the PPAS database so I am assuming it is previously unreported.
PPAS report at the beginning.

A more precise period observation needs to be made and can be done
with binoculars.  This is a good chance for folks to see a Molniya
without a telescope.

I looked for the decaying Molniya 1-73 tonight and missed it.

81009A   
1 12156U 81009A   99304.71125487  .00001234  00000-0 -18736-2 0  9496
2 12156  61.9978 162.5618 7274372 268.4212  15.3019  2.00632514 51966

Ron Lee

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