While doing some observing with my 6" dob I observed a fast moving object in my field of view. I tracked it for a little over a minute beginning at 23:23:20 UTC, 21 November. Later I id'ed it as SAC-B/HETE + r . What was interesting is that it flared to about a 0 mag at 23:23:23 for a few seconds. Apparently it was reported as tumbling due to launch failure: http://www.flatoday.com/space/explore/releases/1996b/n96231.htm but I could only find 1 PPAS report: 96- 61 A 97-09-08 21:20:43 RO 9.34 +/-0.05 SAC-B/HETE + r 3.1 1.0 0.0 7.4 d 1 24645U 96061A 00326.10992333 .00018004 00000-0 52167-3 0 6235 2 24645 37.9738 231.6633 0036343 287.8515 71.8295 15.34246984224847 I seems like an interesting object to observe. STS-97 is scheduled to launch at 22:06 EST, 30 November (03:03, UTC 1 December). If the sky is as clear as it was for the last launch it should be another good vewing opportunity for the USA's east coast. Cheers, Don Gardner 39.1799 N, 76.8406 W, 100m ASL http://hometown.aol.com/mir16609/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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