Globalstar Flare

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I just observed three of the objects from the launch earlier today.  
I believe the first two objects were Globalstar M055 and the Ikar 
(Soyuz R/B (2)).

At about 2:33:30 UT on 23 Sep 99 while waiting for trailing objects
I noticed a brilliant flare to the right.  I suspect it was the 
Globalstar M055.  Magnitude was perhaps in the negative range and
lasted about 5 seconds.

Az/el were around 345/32 with a Skymap phase angle of 76.4.

Could this be another Iridium scenario?

I did watch the same point for about 15 seconds and did not notice
any other flares.  The fact that the first(?) satellite was so bright
while the others were faint or invisisble (in 7x50 binocs) may be a
factor

Elsets below:

GLOBALSTAR M033
1 25907U 99049A   99265.87640920 -.00000148  00000-0  00000+0 0    18
2 25907  51.9886 229.6535 0049079 184.5401 175.6920 13.90178984    28
GLOBALSTAR MO50
1 25908U 99049B   99265.87626642 -.00000148  00000-0  00000+0 0    14
2 25908  52.0051 229.7236 0037476 186.8361 172.5210 13.90042014    24
GLOBALSTAR MO55
1 25909U 99049C   99265.87626642 -.00000148  00000-0  00000+0 0    15
2 25909  51.9751 229.6115 0037729 188.4119 171.1276 13.90292401    29
GLOBALSTAR MO58
1 25910U 99049D   99265.87626642 -.00000148  00000-0  00000+0 0    17
2 25910  51.9642 229.6081 0039073 185.5978 173.9643 13.90083787    20
SOYUZ R/B (1)
1 25911U 99E      99265.87626642 -.00002937  92836-5  00000+0 0    16
2 25911  51.9797 229.5266 0484933  79.6446 344.2850 14.98007634    27
SOYUZ R/B (2)
1 25912U 99049F   99265.87626642 -.00000148  00000-0  00000+0 0    19
2 25912  51.9633 229.6076 0040145 185.1043 174.4428 13.90231806    21

Ron Lee

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