For those SeeSaters in the northern hemisphere (but not too far north), satellite 26692 = 01-004C = "GPS 2R-7 PAM-D r" offers a chance to see a REALLY FAST moving not-about-to-decay object. It is in an eccentric orbit currently about 160 km x 16400 km (at launch, its orbit was approximately 180 km x 20400 km) and its argument of the perigee will reach 90 degrees next week. As its inclination is approximately 38.8 degrees, observers near that northern latitude have a chance to see it in the evening at or near its perigee when it is moving at some 35060 km/hour or 9.74 km/sec. At 23:28.8 UTC 2001 Oct 08, we saw it at apparent magnitude 4-1/2 or 5 (very hard to judge due to its speed), corresponding to an "intrinsic" magnitude (full phase, 1000 km range, cosine phase law) of +7, or a "standard" magnitude (90deg phase, 1000 km range, Lambert phase law) of +8. Clear and dark skies! Ed Light Lakewood, NJ, USA N 40.1075, W 074.2312, Hgt +24 m (80 ft) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 08:26:35 EDT