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Old 25-06-2008, 10:50 AM
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Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)
Space Explorer

Gargoyle_Steve is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Caloundra, Sunshine Coast, Australia
Posts: 1,571
Very high altitude non-geosynchronous satellite. I managed to observe one of these at Ron's place last winter. I observed it moving from the low southern sky in a northernly direction, as described by my post here (observed Wed 20th June 2007, just barely a year ago):

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...lite+jewel+box

"That satellite ....... came into my view at 02:10am (making the date the 20th). It rose near enough to vertically from the horizon and passed just to the side of the Jewel Box in the view of my 13mm Hyperion, ie 68° field of view at 115x. It was quite faint even in my 12" dob, and it was taking over a minute to pass through the field of view. I tracked it for a number of minutes and it had still only climbed to the same altitude as Beta Centauri. So far my efforts in attempting to ID this object have not been successful. Anyone with any suggestions please let me know."

Calculations tell me that field of view was approx 35' across, and I seem to recall I followed this very slow moving satellite for the better part of 20 minutes until it passed level with Beta Centauri. This one, however, was not a flasher but was illuminated in a steady, if dimly, manner.
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