Yeah... I'm still here.
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The Mrs and I went down to Hocking HIlls... like a month ago. It was great to get away in that little cabin... with no TV. We went hiking and saw Old Man's Cave and Cedar Falls. Then we ate some BBQ. Then we trekked all the way to Circleville for the last day of the pumpkin festival. We parked in some dudes backyard for $10, putting us like 1 block from the festivities. I got some deep fried pumpkin pie. It was F'ing tasty. Then we drove all the way to Athens and ate at O'Betty's, a kick ass hot dog place. It was tasty as well. Then we went back to the hotel and read books, where I read a good hunk of the 2nd Chris Jericho autobiography. It was good. (I got the first Chris Jericho autobio from the Dollar Tree, I believe).
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The wife also got me the Ace Frehley autobio for our anniversary. Almost done with it. Good stuff. Ace did a lot of blow.
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My satellite watching has been fairly sporatic. I haven't cataloged my sessions since September. I counted up the ones I haven't cataloged the other night and had 96. I think that puts me around the 850 mark. It'll be difficult to hit 1000 by the end of the year. I just have too much stuff to do.
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Like watch shit on the BluRay player I bought about a month ago. I need to explain this one a little bit. Ya see... A friend of mine let me borrow a TV tuner card. Basically I plug cable into the back of my computer, allowing me to record TV show (at least for channels 2 - 70). I think it's stupid to have to pay TW $17.95 / mo. for DVR service as well as 7.95/mo for the newer box which can handle doing DVR (double dip much????) So, instead, I record the shows on my computer. The BluRay player is wireless, so I set up my own DNLA server (dont ask, just understand that it acts as a server to host the files), and so I can stream the shows to the BluRay player. The BluRay player also comes with all these other streaming 'channels' like Crackle which has free TV shows and Movies (it's owned by Sony, which is what I bought), and a bazillion other things like free concerts from Australlia (Megadeth and a couple of other bands), Flixter (movie trailers), and also access to tons of other pay services (like Netflix, Vudu, Hulu Plus, etc). I swear there are like 40 differnt channels that you can watch/listen to for free (as there are also free radio channels like Pandora, NPR, and a bunch of other shit I've never heard of). It's so awesome that it hurts and there's nto enough time in the day to watch shit. And do all the other things I should be doing. It used to be that if I wanted to start watching a new series, I'd have to make time to watch it.. and if I missed some episodes, that was usally the end of that since I would get behind with no real way to catch back up (unless of course TW had it OnDemand). Now, I just set the scheduler up to record every Weds at 10pm and BLAMMO, I can watch it whenever I want. It also serves as a DVD player, CD player and also has a USB port so you can put pretty much anything you want on that thing within reason (be it a usb flash drive or a big honkin extrenal USB drive). It's the goods.
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Work is going better. But who cares. No one probably knew it was bad since I don't communicate with the outside world anymore. I'm a slave to my TV shows. Bad Darrin.
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My wife is done with Christmas shopping. In fact, she was probably mostly done a week ago. That's a new record right there. I have a hard time gearing up for Christmas until its officially after Thanksgiving, regardless of the fact that 93.3 starting playing 24 hour Christmas tunes BEFORE HALLOWEEN this year. That just blows my f'ing mind.
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I did not go to the record show on Nov 12th. And I didn't really miss it either. I have 10 boxes of LPs downstairs that I haven't even peeped at since I moved into the house (well, techincally, it was impossible to do so since 90% of them were in my sisters basement 150 miles away). In other news, I'm nearly done listening to my CDs (I started a few months back and have been on a tear). I have only the boxset and Christmas CDs to go. I'm also in the home stretch for listening to all my cassettes. I saved the best for last as the last 2 or 3 holders have all the good metal stuff (Metallica, Dokken, Motley Crue, Leatherwolf, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Winger, etc). I'm not sure what I'll do at the end. Might Craigslist a whole crap load of stuff... or I'll just hoard it some more. I can't get rid of all my cassettes as the car doesn't have a CD player and since that thing has 115k on it, I'm not about to have someoen crack open the dash and install something new into that old car. It's a good car and gets me where I want to go at 30 MPG (which is badass for a 6 cylinder from 2001).
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Sugar gives me heartburn. Esp donuts. And I love donuts.
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I have nothing more to say for now. Adios mi nachos!!!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Saw it!
I actually saw the Northern Lights last night. And it was a total fluke. We were watching "The Sing Off". I really wasn't in the mood to look for satellites, but I also new it was super clear that evening. I had gone out around 8pm but nothing was going on then, at least none that I noticed. About 9:30pm, during a commercial break, I decided I'd go out quickly to see if I could spot a satellite just for kicks. I went outside and saw the 'red clouds' in the sky in the north. I called the wife out and she saw them as well. I thought it was pretty cool. At that time, I wasn't sure that it was the Northern Lights (as most of the time people assume they are green, not bright red), but I knew it was something very special. I confirmed my suspition when I read it on the NBC 4 webpage (and various other places).
By 9:40, they were gone (or at least were taking a break.
I remember my dad saying that he once saw the Northern Lights in Ohio when he was growing up. I assumed it would not ever see them, honestly. Certainly not in Ohio with all the stupid light pollution we have everywhere. Well, surprise surprise! I've seen them! I think this was on my bucket list I created a LONG time ago. I'll have to dig that thing up and cross something off that list. The last time I found it, I was able to cross off 'get married' and 'have children'.
Here's the NBC 4 article about it
My favorite fact from the article:
"The red glow is very rare, according to UniverseToday.com. The site says it is produced by the interactions of oxygen atoms more than 200 miles above the earth's surface." Not only did I see something rare by seeing them in Ohio, I saw RED which is pretty freaking rare itself. AWESOME!!!
Here's aabout what I saw (per the photo taken by Jim Kolb in Newark, OH)
By 9:40, they were gone (or at least were taking a break.
I remember my dad saying that he once saw the Northern Lights in Ohio when he was growing up. I assumed it would not ever see them, honestly. Certainly not in Ohio with all the stupid light pollution we have everywhere. Well, surprise surprise! I've seen them! I think this was on my bucket list I created a LONG time ago. I'll have to dig that thing up and cross something off that list. The last time I found it, I was able to cross off 'get married' and 'have children'.
Here's the NBC 4 article about it
My favorite fact from the article:
"The red glow is very rare, according to UniverseToday.com. The site says it is produced by the interactions of oxygen atoms more than 200 miles above the earth's surface." Not only did I see something rare by seeing them in Ohio, I saw RED which is pretty freaking rare itself. AWESOME!!!
Here's aabout what I saw (per the photo taken by Jim Kolb in Newark, OH)
Friday, September 16, 2011
What's new - August and mid-Sept Edition
I started writing this entry at the beginning of September, but then time got away from me 'cause I was trying to have the satellite spotting stuff in here. But it's just too much ... so I'll get the sat stuff up later.
Once again it's been a month (and a half) since I've updated. Good golly. I barely check email once a week now. How sad is that???
The latest and greatest thing is that I built my first new computer in 7 years. It's finally up and running. And it's bad-ass. It's a Quad-Core AMG 3.2 GHz w/ 8 GB of RAM (with two slots left where I can upgrade it to the max of 16 GB someday), a 1 TB HD (small, I know), a dual-layer DVD-burner (I didn't see the point in getting a blu-ray player since I've been comtemplating getting a dedicated bluray player anyways), a 500 W power supply, a fairly decent ASRock mobo and a case that looks like a f'ing spaceship. The case itself was much mroe awesome than I even realized. It has a hot swappable 2.5' hard drive bay. You just take the drive and plug it into the front. Good thing I had that 100 GB drive from the laptop laying around! It's fast as all hell and I get giddy every time I get to use it.
We said goodbye to the minivan about a month ago. It was a good vehicle while we needed, but the gas prices were just killing us while it was getting like 16 MPG. Now we're in a Ford Fusion getting over 30 MPG. Woot. We likes it.
We went to the zoo the other day. Lots of animals were out. Both polar bears were out and swimming. The otters were swimming. The penguins were out in force. The wolves were running around. The elephants were hanging outside. Even the Pallas' Cat was out and about. And then the family ate Skyline. Tasty!!!
I was excited to see that in July 2011, Red Bull finally got past litigation and are now (presumably) proceeding with the Red Bull Stratos project. The plan is to put Felix Baumgartner in a gondola attached to some balloons, send him up 120,000 feet (that's like 23 miles or something, let him jump out in a space suit thingy and them, hopefully, have a free-falling human break the sound barrier. There are 4 world records in there: 1. Altitude record for freefall, 2. Distance record for longest freefall, 3. Speed record for fasted freefall by breaking the speed of sound with the human body, 4. Altitude record for the highest manned balloon flight. They were supposed to try last October on the 50th anniversary of Col. Joe Kittinger setting the majority (if not all) of these records in 1960, however literally 3 weeks before they were going to make the attempt, someone claimed to have contacted Red Bull with this idea initially but were left out in the cold, so they sued. As of July, the have amicably settled their differences. Game on! Go Felix!!!
Don't forget the super awesome Ben Folds 3 CD Retrospective is being released in October. W00t!
I'm still looking up license plates. I've upped the ante as well, I'm also looking for truck, trailer, motorcycle, dealer, temp and state govt plates as well. I've got got over 30 of the car plates. Not much of anything else, though I do take pride in spotting a California motorcycle plate.
We have too much stuff. The wife is making dents in the crawl space as I type this. I might have to hire Ian to sell some stuff for me again, though he says that teh ebay action is for poop as of late, so... who knows.
August is turning out to be a pretty decent month for sky watching. There was the Perseid meteor shower, and it's also been cool enough that the mosquitoes haven't been too horrible. This past week was great because the moon was 'off-phase' and wasn't up for most of the evening. I spotted my brightest objects just the other night. It was a flare from an Iridium satellite which clocked in at -7.2 magnitude. to put that into perspective, the lower the number the brighter... the sun is something like -26 and a full moon is -12.7. The brightest ISS sighting I have had was -4.6, so this nearly doubled as the brightest object I had seen. My August sightings thus far (something like 60 objects) are below. I'm nearly 3/4 of the way to my 1,000 object mark which is pretty cool. And Resurs 1-4 (ye olde faithful) is coming back around again for several months which means I should be able to hit another goal of seeing a single object 50 times.
Hope all is well with everyone else. There was a record show last weekend that I totally spaced on, but I'm kinda recorded out (though I still like to peruse around). Next show is Nov 12th according to my postcard.
Once again it's been a month (and a half) since I've updated. Good golly. I barely check email once a week now. How sad is that???
The latest and greatest thing is that I built my first new computer in 7 years. It's finally up and running. And it's bad-ass. It's a Quad-Core AMG 3.2 GHz w/ 8 GB of RAM (with two slots left where I can upgrade it to the max of 16 GB someday), a 1 TB HD (small, I know), a dual-layer DVD-burner (I didn't see the point in getting a blu-ray player since I've been comtemplating getting a dedicated bluray player anyways), a 500 W power supply, a fairly decent ASRock mobo and a case that looks like a f'ing spaceship. The case itself was much mroe awesome than I even realized. It has a hot swappable 2.5' hard drive bay. You just take the drive and plug it into the front. Good thing I had that 100 GB drive from the laptop laying around! It's fast as all hell and I get giddy every time I get to use it.
We said goodbye to the minivan about a month ago. It was a good vehicle while we needed, but the gas prices were just killing us while it was getting like 16 MPG. Now we're in a Ford Fusion getting over 30 MPG. Woot. We likes it.
We went to the zoo the other day. Lots of animals were out. Both polar bears were out and swimming. The otters were swimming. The penguins were out in force. The wolves were running around. The elephants were hanging outside. Even the Pallas' Cat was out and about. And then the family ate Skyline. Tasty!!!
I was excited to see that in July 2011, Red Bull finally got past litigation and are now (presumably) proceeding with the Red Bull Stratos project. The plan is to put Felix Baumgartner in a gondola attached to some balloons, send him up 120,000 feet (that's like 23 miles or something, let him jump out in a space suit thingy and them, hopefully, have a free-falling human break the sound barrier. There are 4 world records in there: 1. Altitude record for freefall, 2. Distance record for longest freefall, 3. Speed record for fasted freefall by breaking the speed of sound with the human body, 4. Altitude record for the highest manned balloon flight. They were supposed to try last October on the 50th anniversary of Col. Joe Kittinger setting the majority (if not all) of these records in 1960, however literally 3 weeks before they were going to make the attempt, someone claimed to have contacted Red Bull with this idea initially but were left out in the cold, so they sued. As of July, the have amicably settled their differences. Game on! Go Felix!!!
Don't forget the super awesome Ben Folds 3 CD Retrospective is being released in October. W00t!
I'm still looking up license plates. I've upped the ante as well, I'm also looking for truck, trailer, motorcycle, dealer, temp and state govt plates as well. I've got got over 30 of the car plates. Not much of anything else, though I do take pride in spotting a California motorcycle plate.
We have too much stuff. The wife is making dents in the crawl space as I type this. I might have to hire Ian to sell some stuff for me again, though he says that teh ebay action is for poop as of late, so... who knows.
August is turning out to be a pretty decent month for sky watching. There was the Perseid meteor shower, and it's also been cool enough that the mosquitoes haven't been too horrible. This past week was great because the moon was 'off-phase' and wasn't up for most of the evening. I spotted my brightest objects just the other night. It was a flare from an Iridium satellite which clocked in at -7.2 magnitude. to put that into perspective, the lower the number the brighter... the sun is something like -26 and a full moon is -12.7. The brightest ISS sighting I have had was -4.6, so this nearly doubled as the brightest object I had seen. My August sightings thus far (something like 60 objects) are below. I'm nearly 3/4 of the way to my 1,000 object mark which is pretty cool. And Resurs 1-4 (ye olde faithful) is coming back around again for several months which means I should be able to hit another goal of seeing a single object 50 times.
Hope all is well with everyone else. There was a record show last weekend that I totally spaced on, but I'm kinda recorded out (though I still like to peruse around). Next show is Nov 12th according to my postcard.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
August satellite sessions
August is turning out to be a pretty decent month for sky watching. There was the Perseid meteor shower, and it's also been cool enough that the mosquitoes haven't been too horrible. This past week was great because the moon was 'off-phase' and wasn't up for most of the evening. I spotted my brightest objects just the other night. It was a flare from an Iridium satellite which clocked in at -7.2 magnitude. to put that into perspective, the lower the number the brighter... the sun is something like -26 and a full moon is -12.7. The brightest ISS sighting I have had was -4.6, so this nearly doubled as the brightest object I had seen. My August sightings thus far (something like 60 objects) are below. I'm nearly 3/4 of the way to my 1,000 object mark which is pretty cool. And Resurs 1-4 (ye olde faithful) is coming back around again for several months which means I should be able to hit another goal of seeing a single object 50 times.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 07-August-2011 Sunday
10:00 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the third KH-12 keyhole optical reconnaissance satellite. the KH-12 series of satellites were also known as Improved Crystal and Advanced Kennan satellites. This satellite was put into orbit using a Titan 404A rocket.
10:13 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-A
This is my first sighting of Cosmos 1939, a Russian Resurs-O1 satellite. The Resurs-O1 series of satellites are used for earth land resource observation satellites. While the satellites they were developed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, they were not directly used for any military mission. This satellite was put into orbit in 1988 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
10:14 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket aka CZ-2C R/B - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Long March 2C rocket which was used to put the first ShiJian 11 satellite into orbit. The purpose of the SJ11 series of satellites has not been disclosed by the Chinese government, however there is speculation that it is an experimental early warning constellation system.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 10-August-2011 Wednesday
10:52 PM - Name: Envisat - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 2002-009-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Envisat (short for Environmental Satellite), a European (ESA) earth observation satellite. This satellite was put into orbit using an Ariane 5G rocket. It's purpose is to study all kinds of stuff like the chemistry of the atmosphere, ozone depletion, wind waves, maritime traffice, snow and ice. Envisat cost 2.3 billion Euros... I'm too lazy to do the conversion to US dollars.
11:05 PM - Name: DMSP B5D2-2 - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-113-A
This is my first sighting of DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) satellite. DMSP is a US military operation that dates back to the early 60s. When the first weather satellites were being put into space for the civilian space program, the military was working on one as well. Highly classified, the original series of satellites were not declassified until 1973. The early satellites used a film-return system which literally meant the satellites took photos and then ejected a canister which held film. The canisters were then snagged out of the air before the canister and parachute plunged into the ocean. This particular satellite is far removed from those seemly prehistoric methods. This satellite was part of the 8th series of satellites (known as Block 5D) which were deployed between 1976 and 2009. This satellite was launched in 1983 on board an Atlas E (or SM-65E) rocket. NASA says this about this satellite.
11:14 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 1.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white meteor traveling from E to ESE around 45 degrees.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 11-August-2011 Thursday
9:51 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a faint white meteor traveling W to SW at 45 degrees.
9:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 1777 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.9
Int'l Designator: 1986-070-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to put Cosmos 1777, a Russian Strela-2M communications satellite into orbit in 1986.
9:54 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a faint white meteor traveling N from from 30 to 45 degrees.
9:59 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a faint white meteor travelling E to SE at 65 degrees.
9:59 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Cosmos 1939, a Russian Resurs-O1 earth resource satellite.
10:06 PM - Name: TRMM - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 1997-074-A
This is my first sighting of the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) satellite. It was launched in 1997 using a Japanese H-2 rocket (coincidentally, the last H-2 to fly due to the last two H-2 mission ending in failure). The TRMM was a joint JAXA and NASA space mission. This satellite had various instruments on board: precipitation radar, upper atmosphere energy readings, and lightning image sensors.
10:08 PM - Name: 99025DQQ - Magnitude: 4.6
Int'l Designator: 1999-025-DQQ
This is my first sighting of this particular piece from the Chinese Fengyun-1C weather satellite. I say 'piece' because this is the satellite that the Chinese tested their anti-satellite technology out on in 2007. I could get on a soap box here, but I will refrain. The facts are that the satellite, in a very high orbit, was destroyed using a kinetic kill vehicle and the resulting collision and explosion created over 2300 pieces of debris of a golf-ball size or larger, and which will take approximately 100 years (or more) to deorbit. I have seen one other piece from this satellite to date (1999-025-DRG).
10:14 PM - Name: IGS 1B - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2003-009-B
This is my 2nd sighting of the Japanese IGS-1B (Information Gathering Satellite). It was launched into orbit using the Japanese H-2A rocket in 2003. This launch actually sent up a pair of satellites. IGS-1A is an optical sensor with a resolution of approx 1m. I have yet to see this sister satellite. IGS-1B uses SAR (synthetic aperture radar). In theory these two satellites are 37 minutes apart so at some point I should be able to see IGS-1A as well.
10:14 PM - Name: Iridium 33 BF - Magnitude: 6.0
Int'l Designator: 1997-051-BF
This is my first sighting of this piece of Iridium 33 (cataloged as BF). The Iridium 33 was involved in a collision with Cosmos 2151 in 2009 with a velocity of over 21,000 MPH which created a large amount of debris (nearly 1800 pieces). Unfortunately, the crash occurred in a heavily occupied altitude which is commonly used for many satellites, including the ISS.
10:15 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a meteor traveling NNE to NE at 45 degrees. (For some reason I did not note the color of the meteor, though I would assume it was white as many of the Perseid meteors have been.)
10:18 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my 3rd sighting of the third KH-12 keyhole optical reconnaissance satellite.
10:23 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 6th sighting of this Long March 2C rocket which was used to put the first ShiJian 11 satellite into orbit.
10:27 PM - Name: Yaogan 3 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 2007-055-B
This is my first sighting of this Long March 4C rocket which was used to put the Yaogan 3 satellite into orbit. It is believed that Yaogan 3 is a Chinese reconnaissance satellite using SAR technology. When spotting this object, it appeared to be strobing / pulsing which usually means that it is tumbling, though I've seen no mention of this satelliting being listed as 'out of control'.
10:30 PM - Name: Spot 5 Rocket aka IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 2002-021-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Ariane 42P rocket. It was used to put SPOT 5, a high resolution, optical Earth observation satellite used for checking resources and weather patterns. The Ariane 4 series of rockets is fairly reliable with less than 1% failure rate (though, one of the failures did come from the Ariane 42P variant). This particular rocket was the 15th and last Ariane 42P to launch.
Here's the time-line for the morning of:
Date: 12-August-2011 Friday
5:39 AM - Name: ALOS H2A Rocket - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2006-002-B
This is my first sighting of this particular Japanese H-2A rocket. This rocket was used to put the Japanese ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite) into orbit in 2006. There's not much to say about the H-2A which has a 17 out of 18 success rate. The ALOS is a little more interesting. It was a civilian craft designed to map the terrain of Asia and the Pacific. However in 2008 it was determined that the satellite had a lack of accuracy (it was not noted in the article if this was a design flaw or a gradual degradation issue). On 21 (or 22) April 2011, the satellite when into power-saving mode and then all power was lost.
5:46 AM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white/yellow meteor traveling NW from 45 to 35 degrees.
5:48 AM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white meteor traveling SE from 50 to 40 degrees.
5:56 AM - Name: Cosmos 2227 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1992-093-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, Kosmos 2227, into orbit in 1992.
5:57 AM - Name: Cosmos 1508 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-111-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to put the Russian Taifun-1 military target satellite, Kosmos 1508, into orbit in 1983. The last time I saw this object was nearly a year ago (Oct 2010)!
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 16-August-2011 Tuesday
9:25 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -2.4
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 21st sighting of the International Space Station (ISS).
9:43 PM - Name: USA 194/NOSS 3-4A - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2007-027-A
9:44 PM - Name: USA 194/NOSS 3-4C - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2007-027-C
This is my second sighting of this pair of NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellite. This pair is designated as NOSS 3-4 and provides electronic intelligence (ELINT) for the US Navy.
9:45 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket aka CZ-2C R/B
Magnitude: 2.3 - Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 7th sighting of this Long March 2C rocket which was used to put the first ShiJian 11 satellite into orbit.
9:47 PM - Name: Resurs DK-1 - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2006-021-A
This is my 5th sighting of Resurs DK-1, a Russian commercial earth observation satellite. This satellite is capable of producing images of up to 0.9 meters (basically, if something is at least 3 feet big, it'll be at least a pixel in the photo... that's pretty crazy when you think of the fact that it orbits 360 miles above the earth.
9:50 PM - Name: OrbitalEx Cn Rocket aka ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B
Magnitude: 2.2 - Int'l Designator: 2007-006-G
This is my 4th sighting of this Atlas 5 / Centaur upper stage (but the first since Oct 2010). This rocket was used to launch 6 satellites. The namesake for this object (OrbialEx) NASA described as "an American military (DARPA) minisatellite ... intended to test capabilities for autonomous rendezvous, refueling and component replacement" as part of the 'Orbital Express Advanced Technology Demonstration' initiative. The six satellites on board were ASTRO (Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations satellite), NEXTSat-CSC (Next Generation Satellite and Commodities spacecraft), STPSat 1 (USAF Space Test Program), CFESat (Cibola Flight Experiment Satellite), MidSTAR 1 (US Navy Experimental satellite), and FalconSat 3 (USAF Academy experimental satellite).
9:50 PM - Name: Cosmos 1220 - Magnitude: 1.6
Int'l Designator: 1980-089-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Cosmos 1220, a Russian US-P ELINT satellite. Normally the Russian ELINT satellites are of type Tselina-D (77 to date) or Tselina-2 (25 to date), but this one is a US-P (37 to date ... which is actually surprising since I think I've only seen one to date).
9:52 PM - Name: ADEOS 2 - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 9th sighting of ADEOS 2 (Advanced Earth Observation 2), a Japanese... earth observation satellite. ;) Launched in December 2002, it's mission ended in October 2003 when it s solar panels failed. This sucked because the satellite cost US$570 MILLION, however through insurance they were able to recoup US$300 million. but still, a quarter of a BILLION dollar loss still sucks.
9:53 PM - Name: Cosmos 1470 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-061-B
This is my first sighting of this Tsyklon 3 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1470, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite.
9:53 PM - Name: Sich 1 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1995-046-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Sich 1, Ukrainia's first earth observation satellite. It was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1995.
9:59 PM - Name: ARGOS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1999-008-A
This is my 4tth sighting of ARGOS (Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite), a US Department of Defense satellite. According to Colonel Tom Mead, "The ARGOS satellite will provide a tremendous payoff in critical technologies such as imaging, satellite propulsion and space-based computing. These areas will become important as more and more applications of space are developed."
10:02 PM - Name: Cosmos 1898 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1987-098-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which, in 1987, was used to put Kosmos 1898, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite.
10:03 PM - Name: Cosmos 2369 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2000-006-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used in 2000 to put Kosmos 2369, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite into orbit.
10:06 PM - Name: 93036BJT - Magnitude: 5.5
Int'l Designator: 1993-036-BJT
This is my first sighting of this object. This object is debris from Kosmos 2251 caused by the collision between Kosmos 2251 and Iridium 33. The collision caused a large amount of debris, including over 1000 pieces which are greater than 4 inches.
10:07 PM - Name: Cosmos 1515 - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1983-122-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1515, a Russian Zenit-6U photo reconnaissance satellite. This satellite, at least the earlier Zenit recon satellites, were known for actually returning the film AND the camera which was later reused. Over 500 Zenit-style satellites have been deployed to date.
10:12 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white meteor traveling from N to NE around 45 degrees.
10:21 PM - Name: ERBS - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1984-108-B
This is my 3rd sighting of the ERBS (Earth Radiation Budget Satellite). It was put into orbit in 1984 using the Space Shuttle Challenger. Budget didn't mean it was cheaply made, it was literally referring to what is known as the 'radiation budget', ie checking how much radiation the earth takes in vs how much it gives off... or something like that.
10:22 PM - Name: Cosmos 1500 - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1983-099-A
This is my 4th sighting of Kosmos 1500, a Russian Okean-OE oceanography satellite. It was put into orbit in 1983 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
10:23 PM - Name: IGS 1B - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 2003-009-B
This is my 3rd sighting of the Japanese IGS-1B (Information Gathering Satellite).
10:39 PM - Name: Cosmos 2151 - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1991-042-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 2151, a Russian Tselina-R (basically an improved Tselina-D) ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1991 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
11:02 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -0.2
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 22nd sighting of the ISS. This also marks the 2nd time I've seen the ISS twice in an evening. I guess I need to try harder and see if I can pull of a 3x (or at least attempt to see it three times in the same day, as it may take a morning sighting and then two night sightings, or vice versa).
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 19-August-2011 Friday
9:43 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -0.3
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 23rd sighting of the ISS.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 26-August-2011 Friday
8:59 PM - Name: Lacrosse 5 - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 2005-016-A
This is my 9th sighting of Lacrosse 5, a recon satellite for the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office). It was put into orbit using a Titan IV-B rocket.
9:02 PM - Name: Iridium 55 - Magnitude: -7.2
Int'l Designator: 1998-019-A
This is my first sighting of Iridium 55. It also marks the BRIGHTEST man-made object in space. I witnessed what is known as an 'Iridium flare' which is caused by light being reflected off of one of the 3 highly polished aluminum antennae. It was really bright. To put into some perspective, a full moon shines at about a -12 magnitude. The brightest that the ISS gets is around -4.5 magnitude. So this Iridium flare was almost twice as bright as the brightest object that I've ever seen to date. Additionally, Iridium flares usually max out at around -9.5, but those are few and very far between. Some are bright enough to be seen during the daytime. According to the orbit charts, when Iridium 55 passed over Marysville, it was nearly at a perfect angle to the sun in order to bounce the light right beck down on Marysville. It was like someone standing on top of my roof and shining one of those 9-LED flashlights directly at me. Did I mention that it was really bright?
9:13 PM - Name: shooting star - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This was a fast moving yellow shooting star. It was kinda past the window for the Perseids, so it's just a plain ol shooting star that went from 70 to 65 degrees in the west.
9:15 PM - Name: Iridium 28 tum - Magnitude: 6.2
Int'l Designator: 1997-051-E
This is my first sighting of Iridium 28. This particular Iridium satellite is tumbling for some reason. In this sighting, it appears to have one long flash lasting about 10 seconds. Wikipedia only mentions that it failed in July 2008 and was replaced by Iridium 95, but doesn't state what actually occurred. In 1997, Iridium 28 was put into orbit (along with 6 other Iridium satellites) using a Russian Proton-K rocket.
9:22 PM - Name: Iridium 33 tum - Magnitude: 6.0
Int'l Designator: 1997-051-C
This is my first sighting of Iridium 33, another one of the tumbling Iridium satellites. This sighting was marked by having very short flashes. Iridium 33 was the satellite that was involved in the a collision with Kosmos 2151 in 2009 (which, I spotted a pieces from in August as well). Iridium 33 was put into orbit with the same Proton-K rocket that Iridium 33 into orbit (take note of the Int'l Designator numbers).
9:22 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -0.8
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 24th sighting of the ISS.
9:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1437, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1983.
9:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 2151 - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1991-042-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 2151, a Russian Tselina-R (basically an improved Tselina-D) ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1991 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
9:38 PM - Name: Helios 1B - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1999-064-A
This is my 14th sighting of Helios 1B, a French photo reconnaissance satellite. Launched in 1999 using an Ariane-40 H10-3 rocket, it ceased operation in 2005 due to a power supply failure.
9:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 1441, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1983 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
9:45 PM - Name: NOSS 2-1 (D) - Magnitude: 4.8
Int'l Designator: 1990-050-D
This is my first sighting of this NOSS 2-1 satellite. Now, I've marked this as NOSS 2-1 (D), however, NOSS 2 constellations come in threes. and currently all three satellites from NOSS 2-1 are in orbit, so it could be also be NOSS 2-1 C or NOSS 2-1 E. NOSS stands for Naval Ocean Surveillance System and is operated by the US Navy. The NOSS 2-1 trio of satellites was put into orbit using a Titan IV(405)A rocket. This is one of the few remaining three-satellite NOSS constellations in place, so a new goal is to see the trio in one session.
9:49 PM - Name: Cosmos 1666 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1985-058-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1666, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1985 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
9:51 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my 4th sighting of the third KH-12 keyhole optical reconnaissance satellite.
9:53 PM - Name: Cosmos 1151 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1980-005-B
This is my first sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket. It was used to put Kosmos 1151, a Russian Okean-E ocean observation satellite, into orbit in 1980. There were only two Okean-E satellites put into orbit. This was the last one.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 28-August-2011 Sunday
9:02 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -1.3
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 25th sighting of the International Space Station (ISS)
9:04 PM - Name: Lacrosse 4 Rocket - Magnitude: 1.8
Int'l Designator: 2000-047-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Titan IV rocket. It was used to put Lacrosse 4, an NRO recon satellite, into orbit in 2000.
9:08 PM - Name: Cosmos 1242 - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 1981-008-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1242, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1981 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
9:19 PM - Name: FREGAT/IRIS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 2009-049-C
This is my 2nd sighting of this Fregat, a Russian upper rocket stage. This particular rocket was used to put IRIS (Inflatable and Rigidizable Structure) which was an experiment, similar to the Bigelow Aerospace Genesis projects, where inflatable structures are being tested in space.
9:29 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. It was used to put Kosmos 1437, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1983.
9:36 PM - Name: Sich 1 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1995-046-C
This is my 2nd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket. It was used to put Sich 1, the first Ukrainian earth observation satellite.
9:36 PM - Name: Cosmos 975 Rocket - Magnitude: 1.5
Int'l Designator: 1978-004-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. It was used to put Kosmos 975, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1978.
9:37 PM - Name: Alouette 2 Rocket - Magnitude: 5.8
Int'l Designator: 1965-098-C
This is my first sighting of this Thor Agena (more specifically, Thor-DM21 Agena-B) rocket. This object was moving much slower than most due to its high altitude. This object is also my first object from 1965 to be spotted. This Thor Agena was used to put two satellites into orbit: Alouette 2 and Explorer 31. Alouette 2 was a Canadian research satellite designed to explore the ionosphere. Explorer 31 (aka DIME A), a US satellite, had similar goals or exploring the ionosphere.
9:41 PM - Name: Cosmos 1666 - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1985-058-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 1666, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1985 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
9:47 PM - Name: SPEKTR R R/B aka 11037B - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 2011-037-B
This is my first sighting of this Ukrainian Zenit-3M rocket with a Fregat upper stage. It was used to put the Russian Spektr-R orbital radio telescope into orbit in 2011. Spektr-R will work with land based telescopes in order to (in theory) provide images that are 1000x better than Hubble.
9:50 PM - Name: TecSAR Rocket or PSLV R/B - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2008-002-B
This is my first sighting of this particular Indian PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket. It was used in 2008 to put, TecSAR, an Israeli reconnaissance satellite, into orbit.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 07-August-2011 Sunday
10:00 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the third KH-12 keyhole optical reconnaissance satellite. the KH-12 series of satellites were also known as Improved Crystal and Advanced Kennan satellites. This satellite was put into orbit using a Titan 404A rocket.
10:13 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-A
This is my first sighting of Cosmos 1939, a Russian Resurs-O1 satellite. The Resurs-O1 series of satellites are used for earth land resource observation satellites. While the satellites they were developed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, they were not directly used for any military mission. This satellite was put into orbit in 1988 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
10:14 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket aka CZ-2C R/B - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Long March 2C rocket which was used to put the first ShiJian 11 satellite into orbit. The purpose of the SJ11 series of satellites has not been disclosed by the Chinese government, however there is speculation that it is an experimental early warning constellation system.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 10-August-2011 Wednesday
10:52 PM - Name: Envisat - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 2002-009-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Envisat (short for Environmental Satellite), a European (ESA) earth observation satellite. This satellite was put into orbit using an Ariane 5G rocket. It's purpose is to study all kinds of stuff like the chemistry of the atmosphere, ozone depletion, wind waves, maritime traffice, snow and ice. Envisat cost 2.3 billion Euros... I'm too lazy to do the conversion to US dollars.
11:05 PM - Name: DMSP B5D2-2 - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-113-A
This is my first sighting of DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) satellite. DMSP is a US military operation that dates back to the early 60s. When the first weather satellites were being put into space for the civilian space program, the military was working on one as well. Highly classified, the original series of satellites were not declassified until 1973. The early satellites used a film-return system which literally meant the satellites took photos and then ejected a canister which held film. The canisters were then snagged out of the air before the canister and parachute plunged into the ocean. This particular satellite is far removed from those seemly prehistoric methods. This satellite was part of the 8th series of satellites (known as Block 5D) which were deployed between 1976 and 2009. This satellite was launched in 1983 on board an Atlas E (or SM-65E) rocket. NASA says this about this satellite.
11:14 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 1.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white meteor traveling from E to ESE around 45 degrees.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 11-August-2011 Thursday
9:51 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a faint white meteor traveling W to SW at 45 degrees.
9:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 1777 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.9
Int'l Designator: 1986-070-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to put Cosmos 1777, a Russian Strela-2M communications satellite into orbit in 1986.
9:54 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a faint white meteor traveling N from from 30 to 45 degrees.
9:59 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a faint white meteor travelling E to SE at 65 degrees.
9:59 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Cosmos 1939, a Russian Resurs-O1 earth resource satellite.
10:06 PM - Name: TRMM - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 1997-074-A
This is my first sighting of the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) satellite. It was launched in 1997 using a Japanese H-2 rocket (coincidentally, the last H-2 to fly due to the last two H-2 mission ending in failure). The TRMM was a joint JAXA and NASA space mission. This satellite had various instruments on board: precipitation radar, upper atmosphere energy readings, and lightning image sensors.
10:08 PM - Name: 99025DQQ - Magnitude: 4.6
Int'l Designator: 1999-025-DQQ
This is my first sighting of this particular piece from the Chinese Fengyun-1C weather satellite. I say 'piece' because this is the satellite that the Chinese tested their anti-satellite technology out on in 2007. I could get on a soap box here, but I will refrain. The facts are that the satellite, in a very high orbit, was destroyed using a kinetic kill vehicle and the resulting collision and explosion created over 2300 pieces of debris of a golf-ball size or larger, and which will take approximately 100 years (or more) to deorbit. I have seen one other piece from this satellite to date (1999-025-DRG).
10:14 PM - Name: IGS 1B - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2003-009-B
This is my 2nd sighting of the Japanese IGS-1B (Information Gathering Satellite). It was launched into orbit using the Japanese H-2A rocket in 2003. This launch actually sent up a pair of satellites. IGS-1A is an optical sensor with a resolution of approx 1m. I have yet to see this sister satellite. IGS-1B uses SAR (synthetic aperture radar). In theory these two satellites are 37 minutes apart so at some point I should be able to see IGS-1A as well.
10:14 PM - Name: Iridium 33 BF - Magnitude: 6.0
Int'l Designator: 1997-051-BF
This is my first sighting of this piece of Iridium 33 (cataloged as BF). The Iridium 33 was involved in a collision with Cosmos 2151 in 2009 with a velocity of over 21,000 MPH which created a large amount of debris (nearly 1800 pieces). Unfortunately, the crash occurred in a heavily occupied altitude which is commonly used for many satellites, including the ISS.
10:15 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a meteor traveling NNE to NE at 45 degrees. (For some reason I did not note the color of the meteor, though I would assume it was white as many of the Perseid meteors have been.)
10:18 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my 3rd sighting of the third KH-12 keyhole optical reconnaissance satellite.
10:23 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 6th sighting of this Long March 2C rocket which was used to put the first ShiJian 11 satellite into orbit.
10:27 PM - Name: Yaogan 3 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 2007-055-B
This is my first sighting of this Long March 4C rocket which was used to put the Yaogan 3 satellite into orbit. It is believed that Yaogan 3 is a Chinese reconnaissance satellite using SAR technology. When spotting this object, it appeared to be strobing / pulsing which usually means that it is tumbling, though I've seen no mention of this satelliting being listed as 'out of control'.
10:30 PM - Name: Spot 5 Rocket aka IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 2002-021-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Ariane 42P rocket. It was used to put SPOT 5, a high resolution, optical Earth observation satellite used for checking resources and weather patterns. The Ariane 4 series of rockets is fairly reliable with less than 1% failure rate (though, one of the failures did come from the Ariane 42P variant). This particular rocket was the 15th and last Ariane 42P to launch.
Here's the time-line for the morning of:
Date: 12-August-2011 Friday
5:39 AM - Name: ALOS H2A Rocket - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2006-002-B
This is my first sighting of this particular Japanese H-2A rocket. This rocket was used to put the Japanese ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite) into orbit in 2006. There's not much to say about the H-2A which has a 17 out of 18 success rate. The ALOS is a little more interesting. It was a civilian craft designed to map the terrain of Asia and the Pacific. However in 2008 it was determined that the satellite had a lack of accuracy (it was not noted in the article if this was a design flaw or a gradual degradation issue). On 21 (or 22) April 2011, the satellite when into power-saving mode and then all power was lost.
5:46 AM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white/yellow meteor traveling NW from 45 to 35 degrees.
5:48 AM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white meteor traveling SE from 50 to 40 degrees.
5:56 AM - Name: Cosmos 2227 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1992-093-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, Kosmos 2227, into orbit in 1992.
5:57 AM - Name: Cosmos 1508 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-111-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to put the Russian Taifun-1 military target satellite, Kosmos 1508, into orbit in 1983. The last time I saw this object was nearly a year ago (Oct 2010)!
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 16-August-2011 Tuesday
9:25 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -2.4
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 21st sighting of the International Space Station (ISS).
9:43 PM - Name: USA 194/NOSS 3-4A - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2007-027-A
9:44 PM - Name: USA 194/NOSS 3-4C - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2007-027-C
This is my second sighting of this pair of NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellite. This pair is designated as NOSS 3-4 and provides electronic intelligence (ELINT) for the US Navy.
9:45 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket aka CZ-2C R/B
Magnitude: 2.3 - Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 7th sighting of this Long March 2C rocket which was used to put the first ShiJian 11 satellite into orbit.
9:47 PM - Name: Resurs DK-1 - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2006-021-A
This is my 5th sighting of Resurs DK-1, a Russian commercial earth observation satellite. This satellite is capable of producing images of up to 0.9 meters (basically, if something is at least 3 feet big, it'll be at least a pixel in the photo... that's pretty crazy when you think of the fact that it orbits 360 miles above the earth.
9:50 PM - Name: OrbitalEx Cn Rocket aka ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B
Magnitude: 2.2 - Int'l Designator: 2007-006-G
This is my 4th sighting of this Atlas 5 / Centaur upper stage (but the first since Oct 2010). This rocket was used to launch 6 satellites. The namesake for this object (OrbialEx) NASA described as "an American military (DARPA) minisatellite ... intended to test capabilities for autonomous rendezvous, refueling and component replacement" as part of the 'Orbital Express Advanced Technology Demonstration' initiative. The six satellites on board were ASTRO (Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations satellite), NEXTSat-CSC (Next Generation Satellite and Commodities spacecraft), STPSat 1 (USAF Space Test Program), CFESat (Cibola Flight Experiment Satellite), MidSTAR 1 (US Navy Experimental satellite), and FalconSat 3 (USAF Academy experimental satellite).
9:50 PM - Name: Cosmos 1220 - Magnitude: 1.6
Int'l Designator: 1980-089-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Cosmos 1220, a Russian US-P ELINT satellite. Normally the Russian ELINT satellites are of type Tselina-D (77 to date) or Tselina-2 (25 to date), but this one is a US-P (37 to date ... which is actually surprising since I think I've only seen one to date).
9:52 PM - Name: ADEOS 2 - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 9th sighting of ADEOS 2 (Advanced Earth Observation 2), a Japanese... earth observation satellite. ;) Launched in December 2002, it's mission ended in October 2003 when it s solar panels failed. This sucked because the satellite cost US$570 MILLION, however through insurance they were able to recoup US$300 million. but still, a quarter of a BILLION dollar loss still sucks.
9:53 PM - Name: Cosmos 1470 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-061-B
This is my first sighting of this Tsyklon 3 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1470, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite.
9:53 PM - Name: Sich 1 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1995-046-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Sich 1, Ukrainia's first earth observation satellite. It was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1995.
9:59 PM - Name: ARGOS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1999-008-A
This is my 4tth sighting of ARGOS (Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite), a US Department of Defense satellite. According to Colonel Tom Mead, "The ARGOS satellite will provide a tremendous payoff in critical technologies such as imaging, satellite propulsion and space-based computing. These areas will become important as more and more applications of space are developed."
10:02 PM - Name: Cosmos 1898 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1987-098-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which, in 1987, was used to put Kosmos 1898, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite.
10:03 PM - Name: Cosmos 2369 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2000-006-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used in 2000 to put Kosmos 2369, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite into orbit.
10:06 PM - Name: 93036BJT - Magnitude: 5.5
Int'l Designator: 1993-036-BJT
This is my first sighting of this object. This object is debris from Kosmos 2251 caused by the collision between Kosmos 2251 and Iridium 33. The collision caused a large amount of debris, including over 1000 pieces which are greater than 4 inches.
10:07 PM - Name: Cosmos 1515 - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1983-122-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1515, a Russian Zenit-6U photo reconnaissance satellite. This satellite, at least the earlier Zenit recon satellites, were known for actually returning the film AND the camera which was later reused. Over 500 Zenit-style satellites have been deployed to date.
10:12 PM - Name: Perseid meteor - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This is a meteor that is likely from the Perseid meteor showers in August. This was a white meteor traveling from N to NE around 45 degrees.
10:21 PM - Name: ERBS - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1984-108-B
This is my 3rd sighting of the ERBS (Earth Radiation Budget Satellite). It was put into orbit in 1984 using the Space Shuttle Challenger. Budget didn't mean it was cheaply made, it was literally referring to what is known as the 'radiation budget', ie checking how much radiation the earth takes in vs how much it gives off... or something like that.
10:22 PM - Name: Cosmos 1500 - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1983-099-A
This is my 4th sighting of Kosmos 1500, a Russian Okean-OE oceanography satellite. It was put into orbit in 1983 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
10:23 PM - Name: IGS 1B - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 2003-009-B
This is my 3rd sighting of the Japanese IGS-1B (Information Gathering Satellite).
10:39 PM - Name: Cosmos 2151 - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1991-042-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 2151, a Russian Tselina-R (basically an improved Tselina-D) ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1991 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
11:02 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -0.2
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 22nd sighting of the ISS. This also marks the 2nd time I've seen the ISS twice in an evening. I guess I need to try harder and see if I can pull of a 3x (or at least attempt to see it three times in the same day, as it may take a morning sighting and then two night sightings, or vice versa).
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 19-August-2011 Friday
9:43 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -0.3
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 23rd sighting of the ISS.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 26-August-2011 Friday
8:59 PM - Name: Lacrosse 5 - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 2005-016-A
This is my 9th sighting of Lacrosse 5, a recon satellite for the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office). It was put into orbit using a Titan IV-B rocket.
9:02 PM - Name: Iridium 55 - Magnitude: -7.2
Int'l Designator: 1998-019-A
This is my first sighting of Iridium 55. It also marks the BRIGHTEST man-made object in space. I witnessed what is known as an 'Iridium flare' which is caused by light being reflected off of one of the 3 highly polished aluminum antennae. It was really bright. To put into some perspective, a full moon shines at about a -12 magnitude. The brightest that the ISS gets is around -4.5 magnitude. So this Iridium flare was almost twice as bright as the brightest object that I've ever seen to date. Additionally, Iridium flares usually max out at around -9.5, but those are few and very far between. Some are bright enough to be seen during the daytime. According to the orbit charts, when Iridium 55 passed over Marysville, it was nearly at a perfect angle to the sun in order to bounce the light right beck down on Marysville. It was like someone standing on top of my roof and shining one of those 9-LED flashlights directly at me. Did I mention that it was really bright?
9:13 PM - Name: shooting star - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This was a fast moving yellow shooting star. It was kinda past the window for the Perseids, so it's just a plain ol shooting star that went from 70 to 65 degrees in the west.
9:15 PM - Name: Iridium 28 tum - Magnitude: 6.2
Int'l Designator: 1997-051-E
This is my first sighting of Iridium 28. This particular Iridium satellite is tumbling for some reason. In this sighting, it appears to have one long flash lasting about 10 seconds. Wikipedia only mentions that it failed in July 2008 and was replaced by Iridium 95, but doesn't state what actually occurred. In 1997, Iridium 28 was put into orbit (along with 6 other Iridium satellites) using a Russian Proton-K rocket.
9:22 PM - Name: Iridium 33 tum - Magnitude: 6.0
Int'l Designator: 1997-051-C
This is my first sighting of Iridium 33, another one of the tumbling Iridium satellites. This sighting was marked by having very short flashes. Iridium 33 was the satellite that was involved in the a collision with Kosmos 2151 in 2009 (which, I spotted a pieces from in August as well). Iridium 33 was put into orbit with the same Proton-K rocket that Iridium 33 into orbit (take note of the Int'l Designator numbers).
9:22 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -0.8
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 24th sighting of the ISS.
9:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1437, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1983.
9:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 2151 - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1991-042-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 2151, a Russian Tselina-R (basically an improved Tselina-D) ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1991 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
9:38 PM - Name: Helios 1B - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1999-064-A
This is my 14th sighting of Helios 1B, a French photo reconnaissance satellite. Launched in 1999 using an Ariane-40 H10-3 rocket, it ceased operation in 2005 due to a power supply failure.
9:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 1441, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1983 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
9:45 PM - Name: NOSS 2-1 (D) - Magnitude: 4.8
Int'l Designator: 1990-050-D
This is my first sighting of this NOSS 2-1 satellite. Now, I've marked this as NOSS 2-1 (D), however, NOSS 2 constellations come in threes. and currently all three satellites from NOSS 2-1 are in orbit, so it could be also be NOSS 2-1 C or NOSS 2-1 E. NOSS stands for Naval Ocean Surveillance System and is operated by the US Navy. The NOSS 2-1 trio of satellites was put into orbit using a Titan IV(405)A rocket. This is one of the few remaining three-satellite NOSS constellations in place, so a new goal is to see the trio in one session.
9:49 PM - Name: Cosmos 1666 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1985-058-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1666, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1985 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
9:51 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my 4th sighting of the third KH-12 keyhole optical reconnaissance satellite.
9:53 PM - Name: Cosmos 1151 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1980-005-B
This is my first sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket. It was used to put Kosmos 1151, a Russian Okean-E ocean observation satellite, into orbit in 1980. There were only two Okean-E satellites put into orbit. This was the last one.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 28-August-2011 Sunday
9:02 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -1.3
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 25th sighting of the International Space Station (ISS)
9:04 PM - Name: Lacrosse 4 Rocket - Magnitude: 1.8
Int'l Designator: 2000-047-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Titan IV rocket. It was used to put Lacrosse 4, an NRO recon satellite, into orbit in 2000.
9:08 PM - Name: Cosmos 1242 - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 1981-008-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1242, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1981 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
9:19 PM - Name: FREGAT/IRIS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 2009-049-C
This is my 2nd sighting of this Fregat, a Russian upper rocket stage. This particular rocket was used to put IRIS (Inflatable and Rigidizable Structure) which was an experiment, similar to the Bigelow Aerospace Genesis projects, where inflatable structures are being tested in space.
9:29 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. It was used to put Kosmos 1437, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1983.
9:36 PM - Name: Sich 1 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1995-046-C
This is my 2nd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket. It was used to put Sich 1, the first Ukrainian earth observation satellite.
9:36 PM - Name: Cosmos 975 Rocket - Magnitude: 1.5
Int'l Designator: 1978-004-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. It was used to put Kosmos 975, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1978.
9:37 PM - Name: Alouette 2 Rocket - Magnitude: 5.8
Int'l Designator: 1965-098-C
This is my first sighting of this Thor Agena (more specifically, Thor-DM21 Agena-B) rocket. This object was moving much slower than most due to its high altitude. This object is also my first object from 1965 to be spotted. This Thor Agena was used to put two satellites into orbit: Alouette 2 and Explorer 31. Alouette 2 was a Canadian research satellite designed to explore the ionosphere. Explorer 31 (aka DIME A), a US satellite, had similar goals or exploring the ionosphere.
9:41 PM - Name: Cosmos 1666 - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1985-058-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 1666, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit in 1985 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
9:47 PM - Name: SPEKTR R R/B aka 11037B - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 2011-037-B
This is my first sighting of this Ukrainian Zenit-3M rocket with a Fregat upper stage. It was used to put the Russian Spektr-R orbital radio telescope into orbit in 2011. Spektr-R will work with land based telescopes in order to (in theory) provide images that are 1000x better than Hubble.
9:50 PM - Name: TecSAR Rocket or PSLV R/B - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2008-002-B
This is my first sighting of this particular Indian PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket. It was used in 2008 to put, TecSAR, an Israeli reconnaissance satellite, into orbit.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
July Sightings
The summer has not been as kind to satellite spotting as I had hoped. The sun sets late and the bugs are out. :( The bugs are what I don't like honestly. I can deal with the heat and humidity. But bugs getting into your eyes sucks.
Anyhoo... only two sessions in July.
The July 4th session occurred because the Mrs and I went out to watch the M'ville fireworks. She even spotted a satellite on her own just by looking into the sky. No chart or anything. I was so proud.
The July 31st sessions happened because I noticed that the moon wasn't out and the sky was clear. I went outside and looked until I saw a satellite... and it just happens that there was another satellite passing by in the exact same spot, so it was a two for one special. I sort of found a match for the N to S satellite, but the magnitude makes me doubt that this was the object, but I'm fairly certain that it wasn't an airplane, so I'll just accept the sighting as it is.
Enjoy.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 04-July-2011 Monday
10:00 PM - Name: Resurs DK-1 - Magnitude: 2.5
Int'l Designator: 2006-021-A
This is my fourth sighting of Resurs DK-1, a Russian commercial earth observation satellite launched via a Soyuz-U (more specifically a Soyuz-FG. Resurs DK-1 was launched in June 2006 and was designed to last no less than 3 year and is expected to last 5 year. Which means, it could quite possibly already be space junk.
10:01 PM - Name: Orbcomm FM38 Rocket aka SL-8 R/B - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2008-031-G
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to launch six satellites for Orbcomm, an American company which provides M2M (machine-to-machine) messaging and monitoring services.
10:30 PM - Name: Cosmos 1726 - Magnitude: 2.2
Int'l Designator: 1986-006-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1726, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite launched into orbit in 1986 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket. This is the satellite that my wife spotted before I did. I was so proud of her.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 31-July-2011 Wednessay
11:12 PM - Name: ERS-2 - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1995-021-A
This is my first sighting of ERS-2, a European remote sensing satellite. I thought I had seen this one before, but obviously I was wrong. The satellite was put into orbit using an Ariane 40 rocket in 1995. Thsi satellite contains instruments for measuring sea-surface and cloud-top temperatures, checking surface levels at sub-millimeter levels, wind speed and direction, ozone monitoring, and chlorophyll and vegetation levels. It blow my mind that something sitting in sun-synchronus orbit at around 780 km above earth can get SUB-MILLIMETER readings. Dang. The successor to ERS-2 is Envisat, which I have seen. ERS-2 has been operating without gyroscops since 2001 which has caused some data degradation. Additionally, it's tape drive died in 2003, so now the satellite can only communicate when it is in range of a ground station. ERS-2 was scheduled to operate through July 2011, when a few burns are set to lower the orbit of the satellite. The satellite should deorbit within the next 25 years.
11:15 PM - Name: 97051XP - Magnitude: 5.9
Int'l Designator: 1197-051-XP
This is my first sighting of this piece of space debris. This particular piece of debris came from the collision of Iridium 33 (and American communications satellite) and Kosmos 2251 (a retirned Russian Strela military communications satellite). The collision in 2009 caused a great deal of space debris (over 2000 pieces are currently being tracked) and, with the satellites travelling at a combined speed of 11.7 kilometer per SECOND (that's 26,170 mph), was the first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact artificial satellites. Iridium 33 was operational, but Kosmos 2251 had been retired. The Russian government has not commented on if the satellite was out of control or not. Iridium spoke to the face that they do have a hard time keepgin track fo all of the near-collsion warnings as they get somewhere in the area of 400 near-collision messages a week.
Anyhoo... only two sessions in July.
The July 4th session occurred because the Mrs and I went out to watch the M'ville fireworks. She even spotted a satellite on her own just by looking into the sky. No chart or anything. I was so proud.
The July 31st sessions happened because I noticed that the moon wasn't out and the sky was clear. I went outside and looked until I saw a satellite... and it just happens that there was another satellite passing by in the exact same spot, so it was a two for one special. I sort of found a match for the N to S satellite, but the magnitude makes me doubt that this was the object, but I'm fairly certain that it wasn't an airplane, so I'll just accept the sighting as it is.
Enjoy.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 04-July-2011 Monday
10:00 PM - Name: Resurs DK-1 - Magnitude: 2.5
Int'l Designator: 2006-021-A
This is my fourth sighting of Resurs DK-1, a Russian commercial earth observation satellite launched via a Soyuz-U (more specifically a Soyuz-FG. Resurs DK-1 was launched in June 2006 and was designed to last no less than 3 year and is expected to last 5 year. Which means, it could quite possibly already be space junk.
10:01 PM - Name: Orbcomm FM38 Rocket aka SL-8 R/B - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2008-031-G
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to launch six satellites for Orbcomm, an American company which provides M2M (machine-to-machine) messaging and monitoring services.
10:30 PM - Name: Cosmos 1726 - Magnitude: 2.2
Int'l Designator: 1986-006-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1726, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite launched into orbit in 1986 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket. This is the satellite that my wife spotted before I did. I was so proud of her.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 31-July-2011 Wednessay
11:12 PM - Name: ERS-2 - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1995-021-A
This is my first sighting of ERS-2, a European remote sensing satellite. I thought I had seen this one before, but obviously I was wrong. The satellite was put into orbit using an Ariane 40 rocket in 1995. Thsi satellite contains instruments for measuring sea-surface and cloud-top temperatures, checking surface levels at sub-millimeter levels, wind speed and direction, ozone monitoring, and chlorophyll and vegetation levels. It blow my mind that something sitting in sun-synchronus orbit at around 780 km above earth can get SUB-MILLIMETER readings. Dang. The successor to ERS-2 is Envisat, which I have seen. ERS-2 has been operating without gyroscops since 2001 which has caused some data degradation. Additionally, it's tape drive died in 2003, so now the satellite can only communicate when it is in range of a ground station. ERS-2 was scheduled to operate through July 2011, when a few burns are set to lower the orbit of the satellite. The satellite should deorbit within the next 25 years.
11:15 PM - Name: 97051XP - Magnitude: 5.9
Int'l Designator: 1197-051-XP
This is my first sighting of this piece of space debris. This particular piece of debris came from the collision of Iridium 33 (and American communications satellite) and Kosmos 2251 (a retirned Russian Strela military communications satellite). The collision in 2009 caused a great deal of space debris (over 2000 pieces are currently being tracked) and, with the satellites travelling at a combined speed of 11.7 kilometer per SECOND (that's 26,170 mph), was the first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact artificial satellites. Iridium 33 was operational, but Kosmos 2251 had been retired. The Russian government has not commented on if the satellite was out of control or not. Iridium spoke to the face that they do have a hard time keepgin track fo all of the near-collsion warnings as they get somewhere in the area of 400 near-collision messages a week.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
I'm still here
I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... yet. :P
Not much in the way of satellite spotting. I think I have one session from July 4th that I have yet to catalog and post. It's hard going outside in the summer cause the bugs are relentless. I could burn a candle, but candles are brighter than you'd think... plus... who wants to go to bed with someoen who smells likehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif citronella???
Ben folds is releasing a retrospective collection. Bad Ass!!!!
http://benfolds.com/news/details-upcoming-retrospective-album-announced
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Ace Frehley's auto biography is coming out soon, I think. That should be awesome as well, unless of course he mumbles in type as well.
ACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Florence Henderson has a bio coming out as well.
Go Flo!!!!
I forgot that Pink floyd was releasing Dark Side of the Moon for the 14th time. At least this time it contains SIX discs. Holy Poooooo!
Welcome to the dark side.
The latest thing to catch my interest is seeing how many license plates from different states I can spot. However, I must spot them in Ohio. If that weren't the rules, I'd probably have nearly all of them since I took a trip around the US many moons ago. It all started when I was riding with my wife in the car and I spotted a license plate from Delaware (the first state!). Yeah. I know. I'm a big dork. And it's continued from there (both my dorkdom and my wanting to spot license plates). Twice this week as I was getting off the highway on my way to work, I've spotted license plates that I didn't recognize out of the corner of my eye. So far, I've resisted the urge to yank the car back onto the highway to follow them so I could get a better look. I spotted three new ones today, I believe: Pennsylvania, Washington, and Utah. I'm so goofy.
Hope everyone out there is doing well. I prolly check my email about once a week, blogs about every two week and hit facebook like once a month. I'm a bit disconnected from the rest of the world at the moment.
I've no more words.
Bye! :)
Not much in the way of satellite spotting. I think I have one session from July 4th that I have yet to catalog and post. It's hard going outside in the summer cause the bugs are relentless. I could burn a candle, but candles are brighter than you'd think... plus... who wants to go to bed with someoen who smells likehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif citronella???
Ben folds is releasing a retrospective collection. Bad Ass!!!!
http://benfolds.com/news/details-upcoming-retrospective-album-announced
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Ace Frehley's auto biography is coming out soon, I think. That should be awesome as well, unless of course he mumbles in type as well.
ACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Florence Henderson has a bio coming out as well.
Go Flo!!!!
I forgot that Pink floyd was releasing Dark Side of the Moon for the 14th time. At least this time it contains SIX discs. Holy Poooooo!
Welcome to the dark side.
The latest thing to catch my interest is seeing how many license plates from different states I can spot. However, I must spot them in Ohio. If that weren't the rules, I'd probably have nearly all of them since I took a trip around the US many moons ago. It all started when I was riding with my wife in the car and I spotted a license plate from Delaware (the first state!). Yeah. I know. I'm a big dork. And it's continued from there (both my dorkdom and my wanting to spot license plates). Twice this week as I was getting off the highway on my way to work, I've spotted license plates that I didn't recognize out of the corner of my eye. So far, I've resisted the urge to yank the car back onto the highway to follow them so I could get a better look. I spotted three new ones today, I believe: Pennsylvania, Washington, and Utah. I'm so goofy.
Hope everyone out there is doing well. I prolly check my email about once a week, blogs about every two week and hit facebook like once a month. I'm a bit disconnected from the rest of the world at the moment.
I've no more words.
Bye! :)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
RIP Sherwood
Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of one of my favorite shows - The Brady Bunch, died yesterday at the age of 94.
http://news.yahoo.com/creator-brady-bunch-gilligans-island-dies-173447353.html
http://news.yahoo.com/creator-brady-bunch-gilligans-island-dies-173447353.html
Friday, July 01, 2011
Quick update - July 1st 2011
Discovered this game called "canvas Rider" the other day where you pedal a bicycle along a trail. Except the trail is someones drawing. Just go look at it and check it out. It's addicting and I suck terribly at it.
http://cahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnvasrider.com/
Purchased a big old Little Tikes playhouse for the kids a week or so ago. I put it together 2 days ago and basically the kids have been inseparable for it. The Mrs even spent two and a half hours outside with the kids which is basically unheard of since typically they would just run off. So, everyone is happy (well, most are, the Mrs is starting to get a bit pinkish from being outside so much).
Managed to get a very quick satellite spot in the other day. Went outside, saw the ISS for about 5 seconds and then came back in.
Speaking of the ISS (and also the space shuttle), space shuttle Atlantis is launching for the last time July 8th. This is also the very last space shuttle launch ever. Wish I was down there to see it. My hopes was to see it either orbiting or attached to the ISS. I've missed the other last shuttle launches as well, unfortunately. Well, I looked at the satellite spotting schedule and the outlook is just as bad. Basically the entire time the shuttle is attached to the ISS, it will not be visible in the evening sky. In fact it won't be visible at ALL (day or night). So that's a bit of a drag. I'm going to have to go back through my old ISS sightings and see if maybe, just maybe, the shuttle was attached during one of those sightings. I'm not holding my breath since there have only been a few shuttle launches since I started satellite spotting.
Work is going well. No complaints there, except that I'm disliking WebTables at the moment. Trying to pull info otu of these things via QTP is a bear (if not impossible at times). Grrrrrrrrrr.
Hope everyone has a great July 4th. Maybe I'll see you a a BBQ.
Peace out!
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 29-June-2011 Wednesday
10:13 PM - Name: ISS aka International Space Station - Magnitude: -2.9
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 20th sighting of the ISS. It was also the 650th object I've seen. W00t!
http://cahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnvasrider.com/
Purchased a big old Little Tikes playhouse for the kids a week or so ago. I put it together 2 days ago and basically the kids have been inseparable for it. The Mrs even spent two and a half hours outside with the kids which is basically unheard of since typically they would just run off. So, everyone is happy (well, most are, the Mrs is starting to get a bit pinkish from being outside so much).
Managed to get a very quick satellite spot in the other day. Went outside, saw the ISS for about 5 seconds and then came back in.
Speaking of the ISS (and also the space shuttle), space shuttle Atlantis is launching for the last time July 8th. This is also the very last space shuttle launch ever. Wish I was down there to see it. My hopes was to see it either orbiting or attached to the ISS. I've missed the other last shuttle launches as well, unfortunately. Well, I looked at the satellite spotting schedule and the outlook is just as bad. Basically the entire time the shuttle is attached to the ISS, it will not be visible in the evening sky. In fact it won't be visible at ALL (day or night). So that's a bit of a drag. I'm going to have to go back through my old ISS sightings and see if maybe, just maybe, the shuttle was attached during one of those sightings. I'm not holding my breath since there have only been a few shuttle launches since I started satellite spotting.
Work is going well. No complaints there, except that I'm disliking WebTables at the moment. Trying to pull info otu of these things via QTP is a bear (if not impossible at times). Grrrrrrrrrr.
Hope everyone has a great July 4th. Maybe I'll see you a a BBQ.
Peace out!
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 29-June-2011 Wednesday
10:13 PM - Name: ISS aka International Space Station - Magnitude: -2.9
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 20th sighting of the ISS. It was also the 650th object I've seen. W00t!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
May and Early June sessions
Sessions have been very short and infrequent as of late. If it wasn't for the storms making everything so darn cloudy all the time, the other issue is the fact that the sun doesn't set until 9pm and it doesn't even get truly dark until 10pm at which point sometimes I just want to go to sleep.
Most sessions were literally occurring as I was going to bed. I would step outside long enough to see just one satellite and then coming back inside.
One cool session was on June 13th when I showed my Mrs the ISS. Funny thing is that I knew about what time the ISS was going to be going overhead. When I saw it, I called to her and said 'Do you want to see the International Space Station?'. She said 'Sure'. So she stepped outside and there it was, though I though it was a bit faint, but since it was early eveing I thought that maybe it just wasn't as bright. So she saw the little light going across the sky and said 'Cool!'. It was at that point that I saw a REALLY REALLY bright thing out of the corner of my eye. THAT was the ISS. So I said, 'honey, I've made a mistake. you didn't see the ISS.' I then pointed above and said 'THAT'S the ISS'. She said 'Holy $#!%". I told her that it was bright because the sun had just set and that, well, it's the size of a freaking football field and if you look closely enough, you can see that it's not a round dot but kinda has a different shape to it. She thought it was cool. It was nice to share with her what I do when I'm standing outside for an hour or two.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 26-May-2011 Thursday
10:20 PM - Name: Cosmos 2219 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 1992-076-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2219, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1992.
10:56 PM - Name: Cosmos 2297 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.2
Int'l Designator: 1994-077-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket body which was used to launch Kosmos 2297, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 27-May-2011 Friday
11:09 PM - Name: SeaSat 1 - Magnitude: 4.7
Int'l Designator: 1978-064-A
This is my 2nd sighting of SeaSat 1, an ocean observation satellite for monitoring ocean currents, wave heights and sea surface temperature. It was launched in 1978 using an Atlas-F Agena-D rocket. At the time, it was pretty impressive. Of note, it was the first satellite designed for remote sensing of the oceans and also the first satellite to have synthetic aperture radar (SAR) (aka, take several scans using a radar to get a picture than what is possible by just doing one scan). There's even conspiracy theory around this satellite. Supposedly, the satellite was sensitive enough to be able to detect the wakes of submerged submarines. According to the conspiracy theory, the military shut down SEASAT due to concerns that possibly a foreign military might be able to intercept the data from SEASAT and use it for recon, so they baked a story about a power failure.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 30-May-2011 Monday
10:02 PM - Name: Lacrosse 4 - Magnitude: 1.7
Int'l Designator: 2000-047-A
This is my 5th sighting of Lacrosse 4, a spy sat for the National Reconnaissance Office, or the NRO for short. This nights observation had a bit of a slow strobe to it. A little history: It was launched on August 17, 2000 using a Titan IV-B rocket. But you didn't hear that from me. :P
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 2-Jun-2011 Thursday
10:19 PM - Name: IGS 1B - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 2003-009-B
This is my first sighting of IGS 1B, a Japanese spy satellite. IGS stands for 'Information Gathering Satellite'. IGS 1A, an optical spy satellite, and IGS 1B, a radar based spy sat, were launched in 2003 using an H-2A rocket (specifically an H2A2024. It is stated that the first set of IGS satellite was launched in response to the situation where North Korea tested missles over Japan in 1998. Since IGS 1A/1B, three other sets have been put into orbit (a fifth set was destroyed in late 2003 when the H-2A rocket failed). IGS 1B ceased functioning in March 2007 due to a power failure.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 3-Jun-2011 Friday
10:06 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1441, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite.
10:19 PM - Name: CZ-2C R/B aka Shiyan 2 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2004-046-B
This is my first sighting of this Chinese Long March 2C rocket (or more specifically CZ-2C-III). This rocket was used to launch Shiyan 2, a civilian satellite capable of producing stereo earth terrain maps.
10:26 PM - Name: UARS - Magnitude: 0.6
Int'l Designator: 1991-063-B
This is my 3rd sighting of UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite). UARS was a huge,c omplex satellite which consisted of no less than 9 instruments that measured/studied things like natural microwave thermal emissions, winds from auroras, and total solar irradiance (of which I know nothing about). UARS was launched into orbit in 1991 using Space Shuttle Discovery as part of STS-48. Of note, the Internation Space Station had to take avoidance maneuvers on October 28 2010 in response to the flight path of UARS.
10:44 PM - Name: Envisat - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 2002-009-A
This is my first sighting of Envisat, a European (ESA) earth observation satellite. It contains nine different instruments that are used to study things like ozone depletion, ocean temperature and color, wind waves, hydrology (humidity, floods), agriculture and arboriculture, atmospheric dispersion modelling (pollution), etc. It was launched into orbit in 2002 using a Ariane 5G rocket from the French Guyana. Note: It's possible that the object I sighted was NOT Envisat. I was free-styling (observing without a given list) and if I remember correctly, things weren't matching up exactly but Enivsat was the closest thing that somewhat matched the orbit, time, etc. However, I would eventually accurately spot Envisat on June 14th 2011 (see below).
10:49 PM - Name: Spot 5 Rocket aka IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 2002-021-B
This is my first sighting of this Ariane 42P (specifically Ariane-42P H10-3) rocket which was used to launch 2 satellites in 2002. This launch was the last launch for the Ariane 42P. The two satellites aboard were SPOT 5, a French high-res optical imaging satellite and Indefix which was a payload attached to the final stage of the Ariane and was used to prove that it was it was feasible to use the spent final stages of a rocket to carry experimental payloads that do not require things such as specific altitude, solar orientation, blah blah blah etc. So, in short, what I spotted was actually the Indefix part.
11:00 PM - Name: X-37B OTV 2-1 - Magnitude: 1.8
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my 3rd sighting of X-37B OTV 2-1, the 'top secret' Air Force little mini-spaceshuttle. As always, the public has no knowledge of what this little spacecraft is doing up there, but it's still up there. It's official designation is USA-266. I checked but couldn't find any end date for the mission, however it was launched on March 5th 2011 from an Atlas V 501 rocket and was designed to stay in space for 270 days, so if it maxxes out its stay in space, it'll come home around Christmas time.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 6-Jun-2011 Monday
10:40 PM - Name: shooting star - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This was an orange shooting star that started nearly overhead in the NE and streaked to the west.
10:47 PM - Name: CZ-2C R/B aka Shiyan 2 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 2004-046-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Chinese Long March 2C rocket (or more specifically CZ-2C-III) that was used to launch Shiyan 2 earth observation satellite.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 13-Jun-2011 Monday
These are the two satellites that I got to see with the Mrs.
10:11 PM - Name: NOSS 3-2 Rocket aka ATLAS 2AS CENTAUR R/B - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 2003-054-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Atlas 2AS Centaur rocket. This rocket was used to put 2 NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellites, specifically the NOSS 3-2 pair of satellites. Earlier incarnations of NOSS sets (first and second generation) had three satellites.
10:17 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -3.4
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 16th sighting of the International Space Station.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 14-Jun-2011 Tuesday
9:12 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -2.8
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 17th sighting of the International Space Station. For this sighting, the sun had only set 4 minutes prior to spotting (sunset was at 9:08pm), so the sky was still very bright.
10:19 PM - Name: ETS-7 - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1997-074-B
This is my first sighting of ETS-7 (Engineering Test Satellite) from Japan. This satellite was launched aboard an H2 in 1997. The ETS-7 was an experiment in space rendezvous docking and space robotics. It actually consisted of two parts, a chaser and a target satellite. Of note, it was the first satellite in the WORLD to have a robotic arm, as well as being the first unmanned satellite to perform autonomous docking successfully.
10:27 PM - Name: Cosmos 2278 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 1994-023-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2278, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1994.
10:33 PM - Name: Cosmos 1844 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1987-041-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1844, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1987.
10:41 PM - Name: Envisat - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2002-009-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the European Envisat earth observation satellite.
10:48 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -2.1
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 18th sighting of the Internation Space Station. It also may mark the first time that I've spotted a satellite twice in the same evening.
10:49 PM - Name: Cosmos 2082 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1990-046-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2082, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1990.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 15-Jun-2011 Wednesday
9:44 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -3.5
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 19th sighting of the Internation Space Station.
10:13 PM - Name: Cosmos 2278 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 1994-023-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2278, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite into orbit in 1994.
10:13 PM - Name: Cosmos 1263 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1981-033-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to put the Ukranian Taifun-1 military target satellite (mostly for radar calibration) into orbit in 1981.
10:19 PM - Name: Cosmos 1222 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1980-093-B
This is my first sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1222, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1980.
10:21 PM - Name: NOSS 3-5 (B) - Magnitude: 4.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-014-B
10:21 PM - Name: NOSS 3-5 (A) - Magnitude: 4.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-014-A
This is my first sighting of the NOSS 3-5 pair of satellite. NOSS stands for Naval Ocean Surveillance System. The official NASA designation for this pair of satellites is USA-229. It is rumored that this may be a fourth generation set of satellites. If I recall correctly, there was a shooting star that I saw back in April, when this pair was launched, that I through might be the re-entry of the NOSS 3-5 rocket, though that turned out not to be the case.
10:25 PM - Name: ARGOS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1999-008-A
This is my 3rd sighting of the ARGOS (Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite). This sighting was unique in that there was a 3 second flare from the satellite. This satellite has a whole slew of different payloads (a total of 9) that sense and look at all kinda of stuff. Some of the payloads are: CERTO - Coherent Electromagnetic Radio Tomography Experiment, CIV - Critical Ionization Velocity Experiment, EUVIP - Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Photometer Experiment, HTSSE II - High Temperature Superconductivity Space Experiment and USA - Unconventional Stellar Aspect. This satellite was sponsored by the DoD BTW. It was put into orbit in 1999 usign a Delta II rocket (a Delta 7920 to be exact).
10:31 PM - Name: Shiyan 2 LM Rocket aka CZ-2C R/B - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 2004-046-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Chinese Long March 2C rocket (or more specifically CZ-2C-III) that was used to launch Shiyan 2 earth observation satellite.
10:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 2056 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1990-004-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2056, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite. Of note, when realing the info on the Strela-2M, it appears that the Strela-2M satellites have a life of about 2 to 3 years, which seems a bit wasteful or something. This (and various other Strela-2M satellites) are spinning around the earth, cluttering up space. Maybe they should plan on deorbiting them when they are done. Thie one has been spinning around the earth being usesless for the past 25 years. Geeeeeez. (And I'm not just finger-pointing at the Russians, as I am certain that the USA has just as many useless, defunct satellites spinning around the earth.)
10:33 PM - Name: NOSS 3-2 Rocket aka ATLAS 2AS CENTAUR R/B - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 2003-054-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Atlas 2AS Centaur rocket. This rocket was used to put the NOSS 3-2 (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellite pair into orbit.
10:35 PM - Name: Cosmos 2082 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1990-046-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2082, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1990.
10:41 PM - Name: Rosat - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1990-049-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Rosat, a German X-ray telescope which operated for 9 years. According to Wikipedia, it recently made the news when "the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the German government was in possession of a study indicating that the 2,400 kg satellite was unlikely to burn up entirely while reentering the earth atmosphere due to the large amount of ceramics and glass used in construction. Parts as heavy as 400 kg could crash on the Earth between October and December 2011." I guess we'll see if there is any truth to this report. At least it's going to deorbit soon (granted it's still been up there being useless since Feb 1999).
Most sessions were literally occurring as I was going to bed. I would step outside long enough to see just one satellite and then coming back inside.
One cool session was on June 13th when I showed my Mrs the ISS. Funny thing is that I knew about what time the ISS was going to be going overhead. When I saw it, I called to her and said 'Do you want to see the International Space Station?'. She said 'Sure'. So she stepped outside and there it was, though I though it was a bit faint, but since it was early eveing I thought that maybe it just wasn't as bright. So she saw the little light going across the sky and said 'Cool!'. It was at that point that I saw a REALLY REALLY bright thing out of the corner of my eye. THAT was the ISS. So I said, 'honey, I've made a mistake. you didn't see the ISS.' I then pointed above and said 'THAT'S the ISS'. She said 'Holy $#!%". I told her that it was bright because the sun had just set and that, well, it's the size of a freaking football field and if you look closely enough, you can see that it's not a round dot but kinda has a different shape to it. She thought it was cool. It was nice to share with her what I do when I'm standing outside for an hour or two.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 26-May-2011 Thursday
10:20 PM - Name: Cosmos 2219 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 1992-076-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2219, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1992.
10:56 PM - Name: Cosmos 2297 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.2
Int'l Designator: 1994-077-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket body which was used to launch Kosmos 2297, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 27-May-2011 Friday
11:09 PM - Name: SeaSat 1 - Magnitude: 4.7
Int'l Designator: 1978-064-A
This is my 2nd sighting of SeaSat 1, an ocean observation satellite for monitoring ocean currents, wave heights and sea surface temperature. It was launched in 1978 using an Atlas-F Agena-D rocket. At the time, it was pretty impressive. Of note, it was the first satellite designed for remote sensing of the oceans and also the first satellite to have synthetic aperture radar (SAR) (aka, take several scans using a radar to get a picture than what is possible by just doing one scan). There's even conspiracy theory around this satellite. Supposedly, the satellite was sensitive enough to be able to detect the wakes of submerged submarines. According to the conspiracy theory, the military shut down SEASAT due to concerns that possibly a foreign military might be able to intercept the data from SEASAT and use it for recon, so they baked a story about a power failure.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 30-May-2011 Monday
10:02 PM - Name: Lacrosse 4 - Magnitude: 1.7
Int'l Designator: 2000-047-A
This is my 5th sighting of Lacrosse 4, a spy sat for the National Reconnaissance Office, or the NRO for short. This nights observation had a bit of a slow strobe to it. A little history: It was launched on August 17, 2000 using a Titan IV-B rocket. But you didn't hear that from me. :P
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 2-Jun-2011 Thursday
10:19 PM - Name: IGS 1B - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 2003-009-B
This is my first sighting of IGS 1B, a Japanese spy satellite. IGS stands for 'Information Gathering Satellite'. IGS 1A, an optical spy satellite, and IGS 1B, a radar based spy sat, were launched in 2003 using an H-2A rocket (specifically an H2A2024. It is stated that the first set of IGS satellite was launched in response to the situation where North Korea tested missles over Japan in 1998. Since IGS 1A/1B, three other sets have been put into orbit (a fifth set was destroyed in late 2003 when the H-2A rocket failed). IGS 1B ceased functioning in March 2007 due to a power failure.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 3-Jun-2011 Friday
10:06 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1441, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite.
10:19 PM - Name: CZ-2C R/B aka Shiyan 2 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2004-046-B
This is my first sighting of this Chinese Long March 2C rocket (or more specifically CZ-2C-III). This rocket was used to launch Shiyan 2, a civilian satellite capable of producing stereo earth terrain maps.
10:26 PM - Name: UARS - Magnitude: 0.6
Int'l Designator: 1991-063-B
This is my 3rd sighting of UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite). UARS was a huge,c omplex satellite which consisted of no less than 9 instruments that measured/studied things like natural microwave thermal emissions, winds from auroras, and total solar irradiance (of which I know nothing about). UARS was launched into orbit in 1991 using Space Shuttle Discovery as part of STS-48. Of note, the Internation Space Station had to take avoidance maneuvers on October 28 2010 in response to the flight path of UARS.
10:44 PM - Name: Envisat - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 2002-009-A
This is my first sighting of Envisat, a European (ESA) earth observation satellite. It contains nine different instruments that are used to study things like ozone depletion, ocean temperature and color, wind waves, hydrology (humidity, floods), agriculture and arboriculture, atmospheric dispersion modelling (pollution), etc. It was launched into orbit in 2002 using a Ariane 5G rocket from the French Guyana. Note: It's possible that the object I sighted was NOT Envisat. I was free-styling (observing without a given list) and if I remember correctly, things weren't matching up exactly but Enivsat was the closest thing that somewhat matched the orbit, time, etc. However, I would eventually accurately spot Envisat on June 14th 2011 (see below).
10:49 PM - Name: Spot 5 Rocket aka IDEFIX/ARIANE 42P - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 2002-021-B
This is my first sighting of this Ariane 42P (specifically Ariane-42P H10-3) rocket which was used to launch 2 satellites in 2002. This launch was the last launch for the Ariane 42P. The two satellites aboard were SPOT 5, a French high-res optical imaging satellite and Indefix which was a payload attached to the final stage of the Ariane and was used to prove that it was it was feasible to use the spent final stages of a rocket to carry experimental payloads that do not require things such as specific altitude, solar orientation, blah blah blah etc. So, in short, what I spotted was actually the Indefix part.
11:00 PM - Name: X-37B OTV 2-1 - Magnitude: 1.8
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my 3rd sighting of X-37B OTV 2-1, the 'top secret' Air Force little mini-spaceshuttle. As always, the public has no knowledge of what this little spacecraft is doing up there, but it's still up there. It's official designation is USA-266. I checked but couldn't find any end date for the mission, however it was launched on March 5th 2011 from an Atlas V 501 rocket and was designed to stay in space for 270 days, so if it maxxes out its stay in space, it'll come home around Christmas time.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 6-Jun-2011 Monday
10:40 PM - Name: shooting star - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This was an orange shooting star that started nearly overhead in the NE and streaked to the west.
10:47 PM - Name: CZ-2C R/B aka Shiyan 2 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 2004-046-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Chinese Long March 2C rocket (or more specifically CZ-2C-III) that was used to launch Shiyan 2 earth observation satellite.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 13-Jun-2011 Monday
These are the two satellites that I got to see with the Mrs.
10:11 PM - Name: NOSS 3-2 Rocket aka ATLAS 2AS CENTAUR R/B - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 2003-054-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Atlas 2AS Centaur rocket. This rocket was used to put 2 NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellites, specifically the NOSS 3-2 pair of satellites. Earlier incarnations of NOSS sets (first and second generation) had three satellites.
10:17 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -3.4
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 16th sighting of the International Space Station.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 14-Jun-2011 Tuesday
9:12 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -2.8
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 17th sighting of the International Space Station. For this sighting, the sun had only set 4 minutes prior to spotting (sunset was at 9:08pm), so the sky was still very bright.
10:19 PM - Name: ETS-7 - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1997-074-B
This is my first sighting of ETS-7 (Engineering Test Satellite) from Japan. This satellite was launched aboard an H2 in 1997. The ETS-7 was an experiment in space rendezvous docking and space robotics. It actually consisted of two parts, a chaser and a target satellite. Of note, it was the first satellite in the WORLD to have a robotic arm, as well as being the first unmanned satellite to perform autonomous docking successfully.
10:27 PM - Name: Cosmos 2278 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 1994-023-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2278, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1994.
10:33 PM - Name: Cosmos 1844 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1987-041-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1844, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1987.
10:41 PM - Name: Envisat - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2002-009-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the European Envisat earth observation satellite.
10:48 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -2.1
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 18th sighting of the Internation Space Station. It also may mark the first time that I've spotted a satellite twice in the same evening.
10:49 PM - Name: Cosmos 2082 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1990-046-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2082, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1990.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 15-Jun-2011 Wednesday
9:44 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -3.5
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my 19th sighting of the Internation Space Station.
10:13 PM - Name: Cosmos 2278 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 1994-023-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2278, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite into orbit in 1994.
10:13 PM - Name: Cosmos 1263 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1981-033-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to put the Ukranian Taifun-1 military target satellite (mostly for radar calibration) into orbit in 1981.
10:19 PM - Name: Cosmos 1222 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1980-093-B
This is my first sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1222, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1980.
10:21 PM - Name: NOSS 3-5 (B) - Magnitude: 4.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-014-B
10:21 PM - Name: NOSS 3-5 (A) - Magnitude: 4.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-014-A
This is my first sighting of the NOSS 3-5 pair of satellite. NOSS stands for Naval Ocean Surveillance System. The official NASA designation for this pair of satellites is USA-229. It is rumored that this may be a fourth generation set of satellites. If I recall correctly, there was a shooting star that I saw back in April, when this pair was launched, that I through might be the re-entry of the NOSS 3-5 rocket, though that turned out not to be the case.
10:25 PM - Name: ARGOS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1999-008-A
This is my 3rd sighting of the ARGOS (Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite). This sighting was unique in that there was a 3 second flare from the satellite. This satellite has a whole slew of different payloads (a total of 9) that sense and look at all kinda of stuff. Some of the payloads are: CERTO - Coherent Electromagnetic Radio Tomography Experiment, CIV - Critical Ionization Velocity Experiment, EUVIP - Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Photometer Experiment, HTSSE II - High Temperature Superconductivity Space Experiment and USA - Unconventional Stellar Aspect. This satellite was sponsored by the DoD BTW. It was put into orbit in 1999 usign a Delta II rocket (a Delta 7920 to be exact).
10:31 PM - Name: Shiyan 2 LM Rocket aka CZ-2C R/B - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 2004-046-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Chinese Long March 2C rocket (or more specifically CZ-2C-III) that was used to launch Shiyan 2 earth observation satellite.
10:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 2056 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1990-004-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2056, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite. Of note, when realing the info on the Strela-2M, it appears that the Strela-2M satellites have a life of about 2 to 3 years, which seems a bit wasteful or something. This (and various other Strela-2M satellites) are spinning around the earth, cluttering up space. Maybe they should plan on deorbiting them when they are done. Thie one has been spinning around the earth being usesless for the past 25 years. Geeeeeez. (And I'm not just finger-pointing at the Russians, as I am certain that the USA has just as many useless, defunct satellites spinning around the earth.)
10:33 PM - Name: NOSS 3-2 Rocket aka ATLAS 2AS CENTAUR R/B - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 2003-054-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Atlas 2AS Centaur rocket. This rocket was used to put the NOSS 3-2 (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellite pair into orbit.
10:35 PM - Name: Cosmos 2082 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1990-046-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2082, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1990.
10:41 PM - Name: Rosat - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1990-049-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Rosat, a German X-ray telescope which operated for 9 years. According to Wikipedia, it recently made the news when "the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the German government was in possession of a study indicating that the 2,400 kg satellite was unlikely to burn up entirely while reentering the earth atmosphere due to the large amount of ceramics and glass used in construction. Parts as heavy as 400 kg could crash on the Earth between October and December 2011." I guess we'll see if there is any truth to this report. At least it's going to deorbit soon (granted it's still been up there being useless since Feb 1999).
Monday, June 13, 2011
Ants suck... and other things
Yeah... we have ants in the house... again. It appears that this will be a yearly thing unless I figure out how to deal with them. they are itty bitty teeny tiny orangish ants. I think they might be pharaoh ants. All I know is that I went to get somethign out of the pantry and they were in several lines up and down the wall. We we had to take all the shit out of there. Of course, my mom had put back some crackers without closing them at all and they were going to town on that. Egads. So i got some ant traps and also dusted around they entire house. That seemed to work last year. I also got some liquid borax stuff I think, so I might try that as well.
Work is going well. It's certainly a change of pace from how I am used to things working for the QA dept, so there's a little bit of acclimation going on for me. But, overall the people are nice and since they QA group just started, things generally aren't all "OMG the world is going to end if we don't test this!!!" so that's nice.
Been trying to knock shit off my to-do list which is something like 3 pages long (and technically still growing). I've started one of the harder projects which is to organize the misc crap I have that is considered "work bench" stuff (tape, tools, plumbing things, dry wall things, etc etc etc. it's a big pain in the ass, but it needs to be done.
I've managed a couple of satellite sessions in the past month or so. I almost went all of May without a single session, but I made a mad dash at the end and cranked out 3 very small sessions. And then I have a few from early June, also very small sessions. The sun doesn't even set until 9:30ish and it's not really dark until 10:30 and by that time my ass is tired and I want to go to sleep, so that's part of the reason for both the infrequency and the shortness of the sessions I have had. Also, bugs n mosquitoes are starting to come out in force. The wife bought me a citronella candle, so I'll see how that works. Not sure if they candle will inhibit my night vision or not. I guess I'll find out. If it does, then I guess I'll have to find an alternative such as spraying myself with OFF! or using that OFF! belt thingy.
Work is going well. It's certainly a change of pace from how I am used to things working for the QA dept, so there's a little bit of acclimation going on for me. But, overall the people are nice and since they QA group just started, things generally aren't all "OMG the world is going to end if we don't test this!!!" so that's nice.
Been trying to knock shit off my to-do list which is something like 3 pages long (and technically still growing). I've started one of the harder projects which is to organize the misc crap I have that is considered "work bench" stuff (tape, tools, plumbing things, dry wall things, etc etc etc. it's a big pain in the ass, but it needs to be done.
I've managed a couple of satellite sessions in the past month or so. I almost went all of May without a single session, but I made a mad dash at the end and cranked out 3 very small sessions. And then I have a few from early June, also very small sessions. The sun doesn't even set until 9:30ish and it's not really dark until 10:30 and by that time my ass is tired and I want to go to sleep, so that's part of the reason for both the infrequency and the shortness of the sessions I have had. Also, bugs n mosquitoes are starting to come out in force. The wife bought me a citronella candle, so I'll see how that works. Not sure if they candle will inhibit my night vision or not. I guess I'll find out. If it does, then I guess I'll have to find an alternative such as spraying myself with OFF! or using that OFF! belt thingy.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sorry it's been so long...
At my new place of employment all blog and video sites have been blocked. So, whereas I would go through all my blogs and crap during the day at work, I can no longer do. And then, since I'm so used to be doing that, I forget to check when I'm at home. D'oh!
Nothing new, really ... I ripped like 10 Mini DV tapes and have been busy getting those on to DVD doing chapters and all that crap so it takes forever, especially since i'm on a 1.8 GHz machine. It's a bit slow to put it politely. But whatever. I'm in the home stretch now, so ... there.
I got a bit bag of nothing here.
TTYL!
Nothing new, really ... I ripped like 10 Mini DV tapes and have been busy getting those on to DVD doing chapters and all that crap so it takes forever, especially since i'm on a 1.8 GHz machine. It's a bit slow to put it politely. But whatever. I'm in the home stretch now, so ... there.
I got a bit bag of nothing here.
TTYL!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
April sessions
Here are the April sessions =-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 05-Apr-2011 Tuesday
9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1626 - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1985-009-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 1626, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite that was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1985.
9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1220 - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 1980-089-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 1220, a Russian US-P ELINT satellite which was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-2 (not Tsyklon-3) rocket in 1980. According to astronautix (my new fav place to look up stuff on odd satellites): "The US-P (later known as RTR) was a solar powered EORSAT (Electronic Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite). It used an active radar to track naval vessels from space in darkness and all weather. The RTR was an element in the integrated Soviet weapons system devoted to destruction of the US Navy's surface and submarine forces." Sounds kinda scary doesn't it???
9:36 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-B
This is my first sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. This rocket was used to put a Russian Resurs-O1 satellite (Kosmos 1939) into orbit in 1988. The Resurs-O1 satellites were for monitoring earth land resources.
9:39 PM - Name: ADEOS II - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
this is my 6th sighting of the Japanese ADEOS II (Advanced Earth Observing Satellite 2)satellite. It was launched in Dec 2002, however its mission ended in Oct 2003 when the solar panel array failed. An investigation panel was formed and after seeing the output just before failure drop from 6 kW to 1 kW they theorized that likely there was an impact to the power harness which caused an arc and thus killed the satellite.
9:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1606 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 1984-111-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1606, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1984.
9:46 PM - Name: SERVIS 2 Rocket - Magnitude: 5.2
Int'l Designator: 2010-023-B
This is my first sighting of this Russian Rokot rocket. The Rokot launch vehicle was derived from an existing ICBM platform (shocker!). This particular rocket was used to put the Japanese SERVIS 2 (Space Environment Reliability Verification Integrated System 2) satellite into orbit in 2010. Unfortunately the Rokot platform has not been very successful by rocketry standards. In 18 launches, two have failed resulting in a 10% failure rate is not very good. In fact, the most recent Rokot launch, on 01 Feb 2011, was also the most recent failure which left the satellite in a lower orbit than required.
9:48 PM - Name: Cosmos 1300 - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1981-082-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1300, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1981.
9:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 2360 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 1998-045-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2360, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1998.
9:53 PM - Name: Cosmos 1777 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1986-070-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1777, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite, into orbit in 1986.
10:00 PM - Name: Nadezhda 6 Rocket (or SL-08 R/B) - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2000-033-D
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to launch the Russian Nadezhda satellite (technically it should be called Nadezhda 6 since the previous 5 were called Nadezhda 1, 2, etc... however the Russians occasionally do this weird thing where they stop numbering them right before they come out with as new version or something... anyway...). The Nadezhda satellites are basically for detecting and locating distress signals from ships and aircraft that have the international COSPAS-SARSAT search-and-rescue equipment installed.
10:02 PM - Name: Chuanxin1-02 Rocket (or CZ-2D R/B) - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2008-056-C
This is my first sighting of this Chinese Long March 2D rocket. This rocket was used to launch two satellites: Shiyan 1 (or Experiment 1) which is an experimental stereo digital earth mapping system and Chuang Xin 1(2) (or Creation 1 #2) which is a "store and forward" communications satellite.
10:06 PM - Name: Cosmos 2263 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 1993-059-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2263, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1993.
10:07 PM - Name: Cosmos 1315 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1981-103-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1315, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1981.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 09-Apr-2011 Saturday
9:18 PM - Name: Cosmos 1606 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 1984-111-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket (See Apr 5 2011 entry).
9:19 PM - Name: Meteor 3M Rocket (or SL-16 R/B) - Magnitude: 2.5
Int'l Designator: 2001-056-F
This is my 7th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Meteor 3M meteorological satellite.
9:34 PM - Name: Cosmos 1300 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1981-082-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 1300, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite (see Apr 5 2011).
9:36 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1437, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, that was put into orbit in 1983 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
9:37 PM - Name: ADEOS II - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 7th sighting of the Japanese ADEOS II satellite. (See Apr 5 2011)
9:39 PM - Name: Cosmos 1400 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1982-079-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1400, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1982.
9:40 PM - Name: Cosmos 2278 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.5
Int'l Designator: 1994-023-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2278, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite into orbit in 1994.
9:56 PM - Name: Cosmos 1484 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1983-075-B
This is my first sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1484, a Russian Resurs-OE earth land resource satellite, into orbit in 1983.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 12-Apr-2011 Tuesday
9:13 PM - Name: X-37B OTV 2-1 - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my first sighting of the second X-37B (known as OTV-2 or Orbital Test Vehicle 2). OTV-2 was put into orbit using an Atlas 5 rocket. As always, the U.S. Air Force are fine with telling us _when_ the second X-37B is going to launch, however they are mum about it's orbit (which amateur sky-watchers quickly figured out) and what it's mission / experiments are. From what is known, only two OTVs have been created (OTV-1 and OTV-2).
9:42 PM - Name: SERVIS 2 Rocket - Magnitude: 5.1
Int'l Designator: 2010-023-B
This is my second sighting of this Russian Rokot rocket which was used to put the Japanese SERVIS 2 satellite into orbit in 2010. (see Apr 5 2011)
9:46 PM - Name: Alouette 1 Rocket - Magnitude: 6.0
Int'l Designator: 1962-049-B
This is my first sighting of this U.S. Thor-Agena (or, more correctly, Thor-DM21 Agena-B) rocket which was used to put Alouette 1 and TAVE (Thor-Agena Vibration Experiment) into orbit in 1962. Alouette 1 was Canada's first satellite and was used to study the ionosphere where many future satellites would be put into orbit (read more on Alouette 1; interesting stuff on its scientific life). TAVE was a set of instruments attached to the Agena-B upper stage used to study vibrations from the Thor rocket.
9:46 PM - Name: Cosmos 2219 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 1992-076-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2219, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1992.
9:47 PM - Name: ARGOS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1999-008-A
This is my 2nd sighting of The Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS) satellite, mentioned above on March 28th 2011.
9:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 1484 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1983-075-B
NUMBER 600!!!This is my 2nd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. (See Apr 9 2011)
9:55 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Long March 2C III rocket which was used to launch Shi Jian 11-1, a Chinese science experiment satellite.
9:56 PM - Name: shooting star - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This was an orange shooting star traveling directly into the west which also had a 'burst' at the end.
10:00 PM - Name: APEX - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1994-046-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the APEX (Advanced Photovoltaic Experiment) satellite. Read the Astronautix site on this one. Lots of interesting geek facts. The wikipedia page for this is minimal and not very good.
Here's the time-line for the morning / evening of:
Date: 13-Apr-2011 Wednesday
9:32 PM - Name: X-37B OTV 2-1 - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the X-37B OTV-2 (Orbital Test Vehicle 2). (See Apr 12 2011)
Here's the time-line for the morning / evening of:
Date: 26-Apr-2011 Tuesday
9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 660 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 660, a Russian Taifun-1 military targeting satellite, into orbit in 1974.
Here's the time-line for the morning / evening of:
Date: 29-Apr-2011 Friday
9:28 PM - Name: ADEOS II - Magnitude: 2.2
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 8th sighting of ADEOS II, the Japanese Advanced Earth Observation Satellite II. (see Apr 5 2011)
9:39 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my first sighting of this US NRO reconnaissance satellite known as USA 129 or KH 12-3. Historically there have been many version of reconnaissance satellites known as keyhole optical satellites. This particular satellite is from the KH-12 series (known as the Improved Crystal satellites (though the official series designation is not known and presumably KH-12 might not even be correct, but whatever). This satellite was launched using a Titan IV rocket (or more correctly, a Titan-4(04)A ).
9:40 PM - Name: Fregat/Iris - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 2009-049-C
This my first sighting of IRIS (Inflatable and Rigidizable Structure) which was a joint experiment between Russian and Europe. It was put into orbit using a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat rocket in 2009. IRIS was actually attached to the Fregat upper stage and was one of 5 other satellites launched by the Soyuz-2-1b rocket.
9:41 PM - Name: Cosmos 494 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1972-043-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to put Kosmos 494, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite, into orbit in 1972.
9:47 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1939. (see Apr 5 2011)
9:55 PM - Name: IRAS Rocket - Magnitude: 4.2
Int'l Designator: 1983-004-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Delta 3910 rocket which was used to launch the IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) satellite. Also onboard was PIX 2 (Plasma Interaction Experiment 2) which was attached to the Delta 3910's second stage was to investigate high voltage charges on various components.
9:56 PM - Name: Cosmos 2228 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1992-094-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2228, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1992.
10:00 PM - Name: Cosmos 2455 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 2009-063-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 2455, a Russian Lotos-S ELINT satellite. The Lotos-S is one component that to the Liana system which is replacing the Tselina-2 ELINT system. Kosmos 2455 was launched into orbit using a Soyuz-U rocket.
10:00 PM - Name: Cosmos 1452 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1983-031-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1452, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite, into orbit in 1983.
10:01 PM - Name: TACSAT 3 - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 2009-028-A
This is my 6th sighting of TacSat 3, a U.S. recon satellite which uses ARTEMIS (Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer). the goal of this satellite was to prove that real-time data could be observed and then relayed to ground troops. It was put into orbit using a Minotaur 1 rocket.
Also, when doing this LONG catch up, I also did some research on a few objects that were previously unknown from back on November 12. Since my skills are getting a little better, I was able to identify them.
You can go to my November 12th 2010 posting to see the updates. Look for 'Picard r DbE' and 'SMOS'.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 05-Apr-2011 Tuesday
9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1626 - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1985-009-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 1626, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite that was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1985.
9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1220 - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 1980-089-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 1220, a Russian US-P ELINT satellite which was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-2 (not Tsyklon-3) rocket in 1980. According to astronautix (my new fav place to look up stuff on odd satellites): "The US-P (later known as RTR) was a solar powered EORSAT (Electronic Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite). It used an active radar to track naval vessels from space in darkness and all weather. The RTR was an element in the integrated Soviet weapons system devoted to destruction of the US Navy's surface and submarine forces." Sounds kinda scary doesn't it???
9:36 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-B
This is my first sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. This rocket was used to put a Russian Resurs-O1 satellite (Kosmos 1939) into orbit in 1988. The Resurs-O1 satellites were for monitoring earth land resources.
9:39 PM - Name: ADEOS II - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
this is my 6th sighting of the Japanese ADEOS II (Advanced Earth Observing Satellite 2)satellite. It was launched in Dec 2002, however its mission ended in Oct 2003 when the solar panel array failed. An investigation panel was formed and after seeing the output just before failure drop from 6 kW to 1 kW they theorized that likely there was an impact to the power harness which caused an arc and thus killed the satellite.
9:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1606 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 1984-111-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 1606, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1984.
9:46 PM - Name: SERVIS 2 Rocket - Magnitude: 5.2
Int'l Designator: 2010-023-B
This is my first sighting of this Russian Rokot rocket. The Rokot launch vehicle was derived from an existing ICBM platform (shocker!). This particular rocket was used to put the Japanese SERVIS 2 (Space Environment Reliability Verification Integrated System 2) satellite into orbit in 2010. Unfortunately the Rokot platform has not been very successful by rocketry standards. In 18 launches, two have failed resulting in a 10% failure rate is not very good. In fact, the most recent Rokot launch, on 01 Feb 2011, was also the most recent failure which left the satellite in a lower orbit than required.
9:48 PM - Name: Cosmos 1300 - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1981-082-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1300, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1981.
9:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 2360 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 1998-045-B
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2360, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1998.
9:53 PM - Name: Cosmos 1777 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1986-070-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1777, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite, into orbit in 1986.
10:00 PM - Name: Nadezhda 6 Rocket (or SL-08 R/B) - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2000-033-D
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. This rocket was used to launch the Russian Nadezhda satellite (technically it should be called Nadezhda 6 since the previous 5 were called Nadezhda 1, 2, etc... however the Russians occasionally do this weird thing where they stop numbering them right before they come out with as new version or something... anyway...). The Nadezhda satellites are basically for detecting and locating distress signals from ships and aircraft that have the international COSPAS-SARSAT search-and-rescue equipment installed.
10:02 PM - Name: Chuanxin1-02 Rocket (or CZ-2D R/B) - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2008-056-C
This is my first sighting of this Chinese Long March 2D rocket. This rocket was used to launch two satellites: Shiyan 1 (or Experiment 1) which is an experimental stereo digital earth mapping system and Chuang Xin 1(2) (or Creation 1 #2) which is a "store and forward" communications satellite.
10:06 PM - Name: Cosmos 2263 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 1993-059-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2263, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1993.
10:07 PM - Name: Cosmos 1315 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1981-103-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1315, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1981.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 09-Apr-2011 Saturday
9:18 PM - Name: Cosmos 1606 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 1984-111-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket (See Apr 5 2011 entry).
9:19 PM - Name: Meteor 3M Rocket (or SL-16 R/B) - Magnitude: 2.5
Int'l Designator: 2001-056-F
This is my 7th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Meteor 3M meteorological satellite.
9:34 PM - Name: Cosmos 1300 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1981-082-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 1300, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite (see Apr 5 2011).
9:36 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1437, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, that was put into orbit in 1983 using a Vostok-2M rocket.
9:37 PM - Name: ADEOS II - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 7th sighting of the Japanese ADEOS II satellite. (See Apr 5 2011)
9:39 PM - Name: Cosmos 1400 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1982-079-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1400, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1982.
9:40 PM - Name: Cosmos 2278 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.5
Int'l Designator: 1994-023-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2278, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite into orbit in 1994.
9:56 PM - Name: Cosmos 1484 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1983-075-B
This is my first sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1484, a Russian Resurs-OE earth land resource satellite, into orbit in 1983.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 12-Apr-2011 Tuesday
9:13 PM - Name: X-37B OTV 2-1 - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my first sighting of the second X-37B (known as OTV-2 or Orbital Test Vehicle 2). OTV-2 was put into orbit using an Atlas 5 rocket. As always, the U.S. Air Force are fine with telling us _when_ the second X-37B is going to launch, however they are mum about it's orbit (which amateur sky-watchers quickly figured out) and what it's mission / experiments are. From what is known, only two OTVs have been created (OTV-1 and OTV-2).
9:42 PM - Name: SERVIS 2 Rocket - Magnitude: 5.1
Int'l Designator: 2010-023-B
This is my second sighting of this Russian Rokot rocket which was used to put the Japanese SERVIS 2 satellite into orbit in 2010. (see Apr 5 2011)
9:46 PM - Name: Alouette 1 Rocket - Magnitude: 6.0
Int'l Designator: 1962-049-B
This is my first sighting of this U.S. Thor-Agena (or, more correctly, Thor-DM21 Agena-B) rocket which was used to put Alouette 1 and TAVE (Thor-Agena Vibration Experiment) into orbit in 1962. Alouette 1 was Canada's first satellite and was used to study the ionosphere where many future satellites would be put into orbit (read more on Alouette 1; interesting stuff on its scientific life). TAVE was a set of instruments attached to the Agena-B upper stage used to study vibrations from the Thor rocket.
9:46 PM - Name: Cosmos 2219 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.1
Int'l Designator: 1992-076-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 2219, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1992.
9:47 PM - Name: ARGOS - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1999-008-A
This is my 2nd sighting of The Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS) satellite, mentioned above on March 28th 2011.
9:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 1484 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1983-075-B
NUMBER 600!!!This is my 2nd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket. (See Apr 9 2011)
9:55 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Long March 2C III rocket which was used to launch Shi Jian 11-1, a Chinese science experiment satellite.
9:56 PM - Name: shooting star - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This was an orange shooting star traveling directly into the west which also had a 'burst' at the end.
10:00 PM - Name: APEX - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1994-046-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the APEX (Advanced Photovoltaic Experiment) satellite. Read the Astronautix site on this one. Lots of interesting geek facts. The wikipedia page for this is minimal and not very good.
Here's the time-line for the morning / evening of:
Date: 13-Apr-2011 Wednesday
9:32 PM - Name: X-37B OTV 2-1 - Magnitude: 2.6
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my 2nd sighting of the X-37B OTV-2 (Orbital Test Vehicle 2). (See Apr 12 2011)
Here's the time-line for the morning / evening of:
Date: 26-Apr-2011 Tuesday
9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 660 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2011-010-A
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 660, a Russian Taifun-1 military targeting satellite, into orbit in 1974.
Here's the time-line for the morning / evening of:
Date: 29-Apr-2011 Friday
9:28 PM - Name: ADEOS II - Magnitude: 2.2
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 8th sighting of ADEOS II, the Japanese Advanced Earth Observation Satellite II. (see Apr 5 2011)
9:39 PM - Name: USA 129/KH 12-3 - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1996-072-A
This is my first sighting of this US NRO reconnaissance satellite known as USA 129 or KH 12-3. Historically there have been many version of reconnaissance satellites known as keyhole optical satellites. This particular satellite is from the KH-12 series (known as the Improved Crystal satellites (though the official series designation is not known and presumably KH-12 might not even be correct, but whatever). This satellite was launched using a Titan IV rocket (or more correctly, a Titan-4(04)A ).
9:40 PM - Name: Fregat/Iris - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 2009-049-C
This my first sighting of IRIS (Inflatable and Rigidizable Structure) which was a joint experiment between Russian and Europe. It was put into orbit using a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat rocket in 2009. IRIS was actually attached to the Fregat upper stage and was one of 5 other satellites launched by the Soyuz-2-1b rocket.
9:41 PM - Name: Cosmos 494 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1972-043-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to put Kosmos 494, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite, into orbit in 1972.
9:47 PM - Name: Cosmos 1939 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1988-032-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1939. (see Apr 5 2011)
9:55 PM - Name: IRAS Rocket - Magnitude: 4.2
Int'l Designator: 1983-004-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Delta 3910 rocket which was used to launch the IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) satellite. Also onboard was PIX 2 (Plasma Interaction Experiment 2) which was attached to the Delta 3910's second stage was to investigate high voltage charges on various components.
9:56 PM - Name: Cosmos 2228 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1992-094-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to put Kosmos 2228, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, into orbit in 1992.
10:00 PM - Name: Cosmos 2455 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 2009-063-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 2455, a Russian Lotos-S ELINT satellite. The Lotos-S is one component that to the Liana system which is replacing the Tselina-2 ELINT system. Kosmos 2455 was launched into orbit using a Soyuz-U rocket.
10:00 PM - Name: Cosmos 1452 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1983-031-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch Kosmos 1452, a Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite, into orbit in 1983.
10:01 PM - Name: TACSAT 3 - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 2009-028-A
This is my 6th sighting of TacSat 3, a U.S. recon satellite which uses ARTEMIS (Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer). the goal of this satellite was to prove that real-time data could be observed and then relayed to ground troops. It was put into orbit using a Minotaur 1 rocket.
Also, when doing this LONG catch up, I also did some research on a few objects that were previously unknown from back on November 12. Since my skills are getting a little better, I was able to identify them.
You can go to my November 12th 2010 posting to see the updates. Look for 'Picard r DbE' and 'SMOS'.
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