14 Geosyncs

Mike McCants (mikem@fc.net)
Fri, 8 Oct 1999 15:33:21 -0500 (CDT)

I was not too cold last night to watch for geosyncs at shadow entry
for 2 1/2 hours.  I saw 14, but all were fainter than the night before.

Date   Sun Declination
10/5   -4.9
10/6   -5.3  Wed evening
10/7   -5.7  Thurs evening
10/8   -6.0

The "date" above really represents 10PM CDT on that date, so it is for the
evening of that date in the western hemisphere.

Last night I observed from 9PM to 11:30PM CDT Oct 7, 1999.
So the sun declination was -5.7 last night compared to -5.3 the night
before.  Since the geosyncs are about declination -5.1 from my latitude,
I assume that their reflections will become less and less favorable
from my latitude (and more favorable for more northerly latitudes).

I also watched for one shadow exit.  Inmarsat 3F4 was about 2 magnitudes
fainter after shadow exit (mag 8 about 10:30) than it was when it
went into the shadow (mag 6 about 9:30).

Lat 30.3N, long 97.8W

Mike McCants

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