USA 193

A belated report on my December 22 observations. December 22 was a clear, albeit moonlit night. Three objects were captured: Lacrosse 3 (97-064A), Lacrosse 5 rk (05-016B), and the failed reco satellite USA 193 (06-057A), which was the highlight of the evening. In addition, a stray was captured in one of the USA 193 images, which turned out to be the Russian Okean-O rk (99-039B).

USA 193 made a high pass. Bright and very fast due to it's low altitude, it was a spectacular appearance. It was over 20 seconds early relative to Mike's elset 07352.74304755. Below two pictures: the first showing it zipping through Cygnus (passing close to Deneb); the second showing it didappear behind the roof, with the Okean-O rk captured in the same image as a stray. Cassiopia is at top right.

(click images to enlarge)

Lacrosse 5r, ISS, Iridium flares and comet 17P/Holmes

Yesterday was frosty and clear, albeit a bit moisty at the start of the night. A first quarter moon was low in the south.

I observed a nice pass of the International Space Station, two Iridium flares, and a pass of the Lacrosse 5 Rocket (05-016B).

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Comet 17P/Holmes has grown large and very diffuse and was the target after midnight, when the sky had become less moist and the moon had set. It could still be seen naked eye, but with more difficulty than previously. It is about a degree wide. Below is a stack of 6 imges of 10 seconds each in wide-field; and a stack of 55 images of 5 seconds each at maximum zoom.

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Another fine night, USA 193 bright & a Lacrosse 3 flare

Friday evening and Sunday evening saw two other observing opportunities. On Friday it remained restricted to Lacrosse 3 & the Lacrosse 5 rk (97-064A & 05-016B), as clouds came in at a certain point (this made me miss a predicted -8 Iridium flare alas). I saw Lacrosse 3 (97-064A) flare to mag +0.5 however at 23:30:44 UTC (Jul 20).

Sunday night was very fine however, and I catched Lacrosse 3 & 4, plus IGS 4A/R2 (07-005A) and USA 193 (06-057A). The latter was quite bright (+0.5) while passing in the northwest. The second of the two images below shows it as it is just disappearing out of sight behind the roof. The other image shows IGS 4A/R2.

USA 193 was 2.3s early relative to Ted's elset 07202.04020244.

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Note: the time indicated in above image is in error, apologies.

Observing again

Last night was very clear, and I finally could get myself to observe again after a 2-month period of inactivity (see previous post).

In 3 hours observing time I catched a nice batch of objects: USA 193 (06-057A), IGS 4A/R2 (07-005A), Lacrosse 3 (97-064A), Lacrosse 4 (00-047A), the Lacrosse 5 rk (05-016B) and a nice -2 flare of Iridium 14 (99-032A). I also visually observed IGS 1B (03-009B) but the trail ends on the image were to marginal to measure.

Below pictures showing:

- the Japase radar reco satellite IGS 4A/R2 and the American radar reco satellitre Lacrosse 3 in one and the same image, in Cassiopeia;
- the flare of Iridium 14.

(click images to enlarge)

Note: the times listed in the Iridium flare picture are 10 seconds off from the real time