Earlier, Ed Cannon wrote: > > Last night FSW-3 4 (28776, 05-27A) did a truly spectacular > pass over here at an orbital height of just over 160 km and > flashing very brightly (-2?) about every 2.5 seconds with a > pattern of flash-miss-flash-flash (i.e., 1.25, .63, .62), or > flash-flash-miss-flash (.63, .62, 1.25). > We observed this object a few days ago on a very rapid pass. We were not greeted by the bright flashes Ed noted last night; it was noticeably varying but not much brighter than the 3rd magnitude - IOD data: 28776 05 027A 8840 G 20051002233848000 28 I+028 03 28776 05 027A 8840 G 20051002233857000 28 I+035 03 We did see similarly dramatic rapid passes of another such object: FSW-3 5 (28824, 05-033A) in the last couple of days but again were denied the spectacularly bright flashes Ed saw - 2nd magnitude at best. IOD data: 28824 05 033A 8840 G 20051004235139000 28 M+028 03 28824 05 033A 8840 G 20051004235155000 28 R+038 03 28824 05 033A 8840 G 20051005233543000 28 M+027 03 28824 05 033A 8840 G 20051005233615000 28 S+028 03 28824 05 033A 8840 G 20051005233641000 28 S+020 03 Last night's pass was interesting in pointing out how crucial geometry is for flashing/flaring objects. At 23:35.7 UTC (2005 October 5th) it was varying dramatically, irregularly, and quickly at altitude/azimuth 43deg/241deg (i.e. SW), but by the time it culminated in the west, the variations had ceased. As we followed it down to near Polaris at 23:36.7 (45deg/008deg), it was steady and bright at second magnitude. Really neat to see such bright and (usually) varying speed demons! Clear and dark skies, Ed Light Lakewood, NJ, USA Site 8840, N 40.1075, W 074.2312, +24 m (80 ft) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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