Weather has not permitted me to check USA 161 on the afternoon passes in NNW. (It is also more difficult than USA 116, which has an orbital plane further east) But if the drag .000018 is representative of the average for Oct.-Nov. USA 129 will be 2h 45m before USA 161 on Dec.2, which is a kind of marker for a reboost. FWIW, 161's perigee has been on the equator twice, but just once near apex, so for this reason alone MM may be higher, and the reboost delayed. When it has occurred, USA 129 will be up to 3 min late on the following evening, increasing by about 3 min daily! Please observe regularly! USA 161 1 26934U 01044A 04339.78702561 .00001800 00000-0 10381-3 0 28 2 26934 97.8920 87.0797 0347197 309.5861 47.5154 14.73472134 10599 USA 129 1 24680U 96072A 04323.45568580 0.00020000 00000-0 27034-3 0 01 2 24680 98.0030 23.0713 0518793 118.7041 241.2958 14.74627184 08 What these numbers mean: Description of 2-line elements: http://www.satobs.org/element.html OT: From S&T : On Dec.10, when Mercury becomes a morning planet, all major planets are aligned in natural order seen from Earth. The Moon was in its proper place just six hours before. The event terminates on Dec.13 (?) when the Sun passes Pluto. From Rob Matson's SkyMap: Date/Time: 2004/12/10 10:00:00 UTC Local Apparent Sidereal Time: 16:32:21.321 (248.08884°) Object RA Decl Dist (au) Ang Size ------- -------------- -------------- --------- -------- Sun 17h 10m 49.86s -22° 57' 38.1" 0.984750 32'29.0" Mercury 17h 10m 43.55s -21° 19' 41.8" 0.678099 0' 9.9" Moon 15h 30m 57.63s -22° 15' 14.7" 0.002425 32'56.3" Venus 15h 20m 32.99s -16° 51' 54.9" 1.451332 0'11.6" Mars 15h 9m 2.02s -17° 16' 37.3" 2.380647 0' 3.9" Jupiter 12h 55m 56.74s - 4° 39' 46.6" 5.811656 0'33.9" Saturn 7h 53m 34.49s +20° 49' 19.2" 8.256113 0'20.2" Uranus 22h 21m 43.51s -11° 1' 47.8" 20.298001 0' 3.4" Neptune 21h 2m 52.10s -16° 56' 3.8" 30.627292 0' 2.4" Pluto 17h 26m 56.56s -15° 7' 52.7" 31.856327 0' 0.1" -- COSPAR 5919, MALMA, 59.2576 N, 18.6172 E, 23 m -- -- COSPAR 5918, HAMMARBY, 59.2985 N, 18.1045 E, 44 m -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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