easy, interesting satellite
Walter Nissen (dk058@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Thu, 2 Sep 1999 21:28:03 -0400 (EDT)
A special opportunity for easy, interesting observations is now occuring.
A very large, bright satellite is making favorable evening passes near
this latitude and to the North. Many of you already know this, but I
think it appropriate to mention this in a possibly easier to appreciate
form. In fact, some of you may better understand than I do, just what the
worldwide visibility of "Okean-O r" is just now. I haven't checked the
southern hemisphere. What I do know is that it is presently making
wonderful, bright passes here, with visibility to the North, and the
passes are gradually becoming less favorable.
Okean-O r is flashing somewhat regularly. How fast? Use a stopwatch to
measure the amount of time taken by 10 flashes. Or 20 or 30. When you
can provide reasonable accuracy, your observations will be welcomed by the
BWGS for the PPAS. See
http://www2.satellite.eu.org/satintro.html for more details, and
also how to obtain predictions from GSOC, or software to run your own.
Don't be upset if you see this object named SL-16 R/B. Such descriptions
often masquerade as names. Try not to pay them too much attention.
It should be quite interesting to see the flash period change. Probably
it will become much longer. Right now it is rather fast indeed.
Cheers.
Walter Nissen dk058@cleveland.freenet.edu
-81.8637, 41.3735, 256m elevation
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Okean-O r
1 25861U 99039B 99244.67677794 .00000878 00000-0 14426-3 0 199
2 25861 98.0458 301.2095 0016184 197.4735 162.5935 14.73041074 6844
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Concise history of the world:
Whole populations were enslaved by the most brutal elements of society.
The gun was invented.
Freedom emerged in some areas.
Populations surrender their weapons.
(Whole populations will be held as slaves by the most brutal forces in society.)