Spacenet 2 (15385, 84-114A). This is a "flashing geosynch". Mike McCants found it flashing last night. To my knowledge, the only time it has been observed previously was by Steve LaLumondiere in May 2000 (reported to SeeSat). The flash period is about 96.40 (or twice that?). It had some interesting variations in the brightness and timing of the maxima, including at least a couple of double maxima. I don't know when to look for it tonight (but it may be cloudy anyway). USA 102 (23031, 94-017B) can be spectacular, like a flashing Iridium (though I didn't see any like that last night). Its flash period seems to be about 6.2 seconds, but half-period secondary maxima were visible. Nadezhda 7 Rk (27535, 02-046B). I didn't have a prediction; Mike told me where to look. Its flash period was about 6.6 seconds. I saw Intelsat 502 Rk (12446, 80-098B, a Centaur) by accident while trying unsuccessfully to to see ETS 6. At a range of over 4,000 km, its brightest maxima were about +5.5 I think. UFO 2 Rk (22788, 93-056B, or UHF F/O F2 Rk) was closer than several nights ago and its maxima were at least +2.5, easy to see without binoculars. I watched Superbird A (20040, 89-041A) from 3:46:41.1 to 3:53:39.0. Observing site was BCRC: 30.315N, 97.866W, 280m. Here are PPAS reports: 80- 98 B 02-12-16 02:31:53 EC 206.3 0.6 13 15.87 +5.5->inv 84-114 A 02-12-16 03:15:20 EC 2410.1 0.3 25 96.40 +5.5->inv 94- 17 B 02-12-16 01:07:21 EC 105.6 0.3 17 6.21 02- 46 B 02-12-16 01:59:26 EC 78.9 0.4 12 6.58 +4.5->inv A few nights ago Mike found 90003, a flashing geosynch of unknown identity, with maxima at least +6 (I think he said.) I'm not sure what time he saw it that night; last night it wasn't that bright, but it may have been an hour later. The flash period is about 21.1 seconds, but some secondary and tertiary maxima are visible. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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