I honestly didn't think I was going to have a chance this evening. It's had been overcast all day, so I figured that they gray skies would continue. So it was to my amazement when I looked outside after putting lil A to bed that I could see some stars. I could also see some clouds coming, but it looked like I could get some time time in. Which I did. Yay!
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 23-Feb-2011 Wednesday
7:21 PM - Name: Tansuo 1 LM2r - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 2004-012-C
This is my twelfth sighting of this Long March 2C rocket. This rocket was used to launch Tansuo 1, a Chinese stereo imaging satellite.
7:26 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 -or- Meteor PRIRODA - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-A
This is my second sighting of Meteor 1-31, a Russian meteorological satellite. There were actually several models of satellites that were part of the Meteor 1 program. This particular satellite was a model known as Meteor-Priroda and it was the 6th and final Meteor-Priroda satellite launched.
7:29 PM - Name: Lacrosse 5 Rocket - Magnitude: 1.6
Int'l Designator: 2005-016-B
This is my fourth sighting of this Titan IV-B rocket which was used to launch Lacrosse 5, a radar imaging reconnaissance satellite for the NRO.
7:39 PM - Name: Cosmos 1500 - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1983-099-A
This is my second sighting of Kosmos 1500, one of two Russian Okean-OE oceanography satellites. Kosmos 1500 was launched into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
7:42 PM - Name: Cartosat 2 Rocket -or- PSLV R/B - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2007-001-E
This is my 2nd sighting of this Indian PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket.
7:42 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-B
This is my seventh sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which launched Meteor 1-31 (see above at 7:26 PM). It's not often that I get to see the satellite and the rocket that launched the satellite in the same evening.
7:44 PM - Name: Cosmos 1340 - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1982-013-A
This is my first sighting of Cosmos 1340, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was launched into orbit using a Vostok-2M rocket.
8:02 PM - Name: ISS - Magnitude: -1.1
Int'l Designator: 1998-067-A
This is my twelfth sighting of the International Space Station. The funny thing is that I spotted the object in the north and thought that it was likely a plane since I didn't have anything at that time on my list... or so I though, when I did a double check, I noticed that it was farther down on the list. Occasionally, the list that I print out doesn't always have them sorted by the peak time, so in this case, there were a couple of 8:06 PM objects in the list and THEN the 8:02 PM for ISS.
Some fun facts*:
Total number of objects seen to date: 426
Total number of unique objects seen to date: 200
Number of days since first sighting: 181 days
Avg number of objects seen per day: ~2.35
Number of sightings which were 'Kosmos' related: 126 (~30%)
Number of unique objects per year:
1958: 0 --- 1959: 0
1960: 0 --- 1961: 1 --- 1962: 0 --- 1963: 1 --- 1964: 3
1965: 0 --- 1966: 0 --- 1967: 1 --- 1968: 1 --- 1969: 1
1970: 1 --- 1971: 4 --- 1972: 2 --- 1973: 1 --- 1974: 4
1975: 1 --- 1976: 3 --- 1977: 2 --- 1978: 4 --- 1979: 3
1980: 4 --- 1981: 6 --- 1982: 6 --- 1983: 10 --- 1984: 6
1985: 8 --- 1986: 5 --- 1987: 7 --- 1988: 2 --- 1989: 2
1990: 7 --- 1991: 3 --- 1992: 4 --- 1993: 5 --- 1994: 6
1995: 3 --- 1996: 2 --- 1997: 7 --- 1998: 4 --- 1999: 3
2000: 3 --- 2001: 3 --- 2002: 4 --- 2003: 3 --- 2004: 7
2005: 8 --- 2006: 7 --- 2007: 8 --- 2008: 8 --- 2009: 4
2010: 12 --- 2011: 1
I'd figure out the total number of sightings, non-unique per year... but it's 11pm and I'm friggin' tired. I really need to somehow get this into a database so I can just query all this stuff in nothing flat. Doing this all 'by hand' is fairly painful. Especially since I'd like to know things like the 'earliest' and 'latest' satellites seen, as well as the lowest / highest on the horizon, brightest / dimmest magnitude, etc etc etc.
* OK, so the facts are fun for me and pretty much no one else. Deal with it. :P
3 comments:
I love reading these posts.For me, I was always fascinated with space and all things space....then I watched the Challenger explode....and honestly...that part of me just kinda died that day, too. Now my love for space is carried through in sci-fi (or syfy)....and of course reading these posts :-)
I'm glad someone is reading this stuff. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I remember the Challenger thing. We didn't watch it live at school... we'll at least not the whole school. I think those who were in study hall did or something. I just remember coming home and seeing it explode 4000 times and was very saddened.
I had actually spotted satellites a long time ago. I was on a business trip and oen of the peeps in the office I was visiting invited me to hang out, do some rock climbing and what-not. We ended up at someone's (his girlfriend or friend with benefits or something like that) house. We all laid down on this huge trampoline and stared at the sky and looked for little fast moving stars. I had kinda forgotten about that until just now.
it's always interesting to recall the moments that got us in to a particular hobby. Very cool. And yes, I'm reading :-). I'm a bit sad...the guy I've been borrowing the 500mm lens from is taking it back today. So...now I guess I have to add that one back to the list of lenses I'm saving my pennies for.
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