Re: Iridium Obs. & Identify Unknown?
3432P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL
Tue, 23 Sep 97 01:11:51 PDT
Jake Rees wrote:
>Anyway, I was watching through the binoculars Iridium 16 #24841
>culminating elev. 31 az. 82.8 at 02:57:25 UTC. I *believe* the dimmer
>object was Iridium 16 judging from what the others have looked like.
>I also saw a brighter object about one third binocular field northwest
>of the Iridium going also north-to-south at about the same speed.
>Date was 23 Sept. 1997 UTC (22 Sept. local). It was quite a bit
>brighter than the Iridium.
>
>Can anyone identify this unknown?
04419 -> 70-047A -> Meteor 1-5 seems to fit nicely. It was about
3 deg. above and left of the Iridium when both culminated near
AZ 80, moving N to S almost parallel to each other. I think
the RCS and standard magnitude for 4419 are sufficient to account
for the brightness you described.
Meteor 1-5 5.0 1.5 0.0 5.8 v
1 04419U 70047A 97261.14087515 +.00000106 +00000-0 +48969-4 0 05311
2 04419 081.2185 129.7289 0041412 108.8027 251.7644 14.13760275403924
Craig Cholar 3432P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL
Marina, California
36 41 10.3N, 121 48 17.9W (36.6862, -121.8050) UTC -7