[AZ-Observing] Re: 2nd Magnitude Geostationary Satellite
- From: "Rick Tejera" <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2006 09:58:16 -0700
I downloaded the geosat elements from celestrak and loaded them into SkyMap
Pro. Best fit for the time frame is INMARSAT 2-F2. What it is or does I
don't know and since I'm out the door to Church ,, I'll have to satisfy my
curiosity later. Maybe someone else will have the answer by then.
Tom, I'll send you Jpeg of the track when I get home.
Clear Skies
Rick Tejera
President
Editor SACnews
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
saguaroastro@xxxxxxx
www.saguaroastro.org
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Polakis
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 12:20 AM
To: AZ-Observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] 2nd Magnitude Geostationary Satellite
While several of us were observing from Steve and Rosie Dodder's place south
of Maricopa, we observed an interloper 'star' to the northeast of Iota Ceti.
It was distorting the constellation outline, just hanging there at 2nd
magnitude or a bit brighter.
After a few minutes, I put my scope on it, and it became clear that it was a
geostationary satellite, occupying the -5.5 degree declination band. Over
the next ten or fifteen minutes, it slowly faded from naked-eye visibility,
but stayed pretty bright in the scope. We first noticed the satellite at
its brightest at 10:00 p.m. Running the time in desktop planetarium
software, the azimuth works out to be about 150 degrees, or 30 degrees to
the east of the meridian.
What causes an object that is 22,000 miles away to flare to 2nd magnitude?
Has anybody seen a similarly bright rise in brightness of a geostationary
satellite? Who is the local expert on this subject who would be able to
help us identify the satellite?
Tom
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