Cosmos 839 Rk Flashing?
Sue J. Worden (worden@uts.cc.utexas.edu)
Sat, 31 Oct 1998 18:57:05 -0600 (CST)
For those of you who may be interested, Cosmos 839 Rk (9013 / 76 67B)
*may* be flashing again. Unfortunately, I did not get an accurate
flash timing, but it was on the order of several seconds. The most
recent PPAS report from 1979 for this object indicated a 200 second
flash period.
I do not entirely trust my observation and hope that others will be
able to confirm whether this object is indeed flashing again. I was
looking for another object when I instead stumbled across this one,
and only later did I identify it. Also, I would not be surprised if
the "flashing" I saw was due to some atmospheric effect, rather than
tumbling of the Rk. Or it could have even been another object that
I overlooked in the process of identification.
--Sue (worden@uts.cc.utexas.edu)
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Cosmos 839 Rk 7.4 2.4 0.0 5.5 v
1 09013U 76067B 98280.10000978 -.00000042 +00000-0 +44696-4 0 01285
2 09013 065.8620 303.0109 0720954 225.8016 128.1554 12.35162949003279
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30.317 98.258 970. Pedernales Falls Corral 2000 10.0 15 (UTC-5)
*** 1998 Oct 15 Thu evening *** Times are PM CDT *** 1945 652
H M S Tim Al Azi C Dir Mag Dys F Hgt Shd Rng EW Phs R A Dec
9013 Cosmos 839 Rk 76 67B 12 B 3.5
9 18 39 0.0 35 278 68 7.2 9 5 13021192 1870 0.5 114 1717 22.7
9 20 22 0.0 39 293 80 7.0 9 5 13051153 1791 0.5 109 1718 35.1
9 22 4 0.0 39 310 C 93 6.9 9 5 13061105 1771 0.6 103 1714 48.1
9 23 46 0.0 37 326 105 6.9 9 5 13041050 1814 0.5 98 17 3 60.9
9 25 28 0.0 33 340 115 7.0 9 5 1299 987 1914 0.5 93 1632 72.5
Using 10x50 binoculars in clear skies with limiting magnitude about +5
on zenith, but may have had slight haze in west.
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