Has anyone seen USA 144 (25744 = 99-028A) recently? I'm wondering because last night I saw "USA 144 debris" (25746 = 99-028C) easily despite its range (6th magnitude at 4000km) and then waited in vain for USA 144 whose TLE (dated 2005 Nov 30) implied it would follow the "debris" by about a minute and a quarter. (Neither object has TLE available from SpaceTrack, and classfd.tle only has 25746). In 6 (binocular) observations in 1999 (Jun 19 through October 17), I had no trouble seeing USA 144 at apparent magnitude from 5 to 6-1/2, corresponding to quicksat intrinsic magnitudes of 2.0 to 3.4. My two observations of "USA 144 debris" (25746/99-028C) last month and last evening were about 6th magnitude at ranges from 3820 to 4031 km, corresponding to quicksat intrinsic magnitudes near 2.5 . Is there any chance that what I now see as 25746 is the same object as the 25744 of 6-7 years ago? My limited data imply essentially the same brightness and the latest TLEs I have give extremely similar orbits (i.e. almost the same inclination, argument of perigee, eccentricity, and period). Just curious! Clear and dark skies! Ed Light Lakewood, NJ, USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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