Re: Unidentified Bright Tumbling Satellite - Identified
Jim Varney (jvarney@mail2.quiknet.com)
Tue, 03 Sep 1996 18:22:30 -0700
Robert Sheaffer wrote:
>The elements in your latest (Aug. 30) file predicted that the object,
>if it were Cosmos 2322 r, would reappear the following evening,
>passing near the zenith at 20:36:40. (Sep. 2 03:36:40 UT)
>This is exactly what happened.
>So the identity of the tumbler is now known. Once again, the
>brightness was greater than predicted, M 2 to 2.5 at its peak.
>Using a tape recorder and later a stopwatch, I timed the duration
>of ten tumbles at 21.2 seconds, which exactly matches the tumbling
>rate you stated.
Hello from a fellow Northern Californian!
I was watching the same object at about the same time. In PPAS
database format, I recorded this observation
95- 58 B 96-09-02 03:38 JEV 54.4 0.3 25 2.18 AA
i.e., 25 flashes in 54.4 sec for a period of 2.18 seconds.
(To find out more about the Photometric Periods of Artificial
Satellites database, see http://www.rzg.mpg.de/~bdp/satintro.html
or http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/sat/satintro.html)
This a beautiful satellite -- if I had to make up a top ten list,
this one would be on it.
-- Jim
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Jim Varney | 121^ 23' 54" W, 38^ 27' 28" N | Sacramento, CA
Member, SeeSat-L| Elev. 31 ft. |jvarney@mail2.quiknet.com
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