I managed to get a few more session outside. It's been very difficult lately due to the sky being very hazy and the moon coming up in the east during the peak sighting hours. One night I only managed to accidentally see one satellite flare and that was it. But, still, a few is better than none. Enjoy (or not).
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 16-Mar-2011 Wednesday
8:28 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-B
This is my 14th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch the Russian meteorological satellite Meteor 1-31. I've been seeing this quite a bit recently, spotting it 11 times in the last month.
8:31 PM - Name: Aureole 2 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 1973-107-B
This si my 3rd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Aureole 2 satellite in 1973. Aureole 2 (or Oreol 2) was used to study the magnetosphere of the earth.
8:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-B
This is my 4th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, Kosmos 1441.
8:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, Kosmos 1437.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 17-Mar-2011 Thursday
8:13 PM - Name: Iridium 73 tum - Magnitude: 7.0
Int'l Designator: 1998-032-C
This is my first sighting of the tumbling Iridium 37 satellite. This was a really bad evening to be trying to spot satellites. The sky was VERY hazy and the moon was coming up and pretty much everything was working against me. I was trying to spot a satellite that was going to be pretty much straight up in the sky when I saw a flare out of the corner of my eye. After checking my websites, it appears that I saw the flare from this tumbling Iridium satellite. I didn't see anything else this evening which tells you how bad it was. I probably gave up fairly soon.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 19-Mar-2011 Saturday
8:28 PM - Name: NOSS 3-1 (C) - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 2001-040-C
8:28 PM - Name: NOSS 3-1 (A) - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 2001-040-A
This is my first sighting for either of these NOSS 3-1 satellites. NOSS (short for Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellites are used for signal and electronic intelligence, mainly for spying on transmissions from submarines and other military water crafts. Sets of satellites are sent up in 2s or 3s and use the data to triangulate where the signal is coming from. Earlier NOSS systems used three, but with the introduction of the NOSS 3 system, only two satellites were used. This pair was launched into orbit using an Atlas IIAS rocket in 2001.
8:35 PM - Name: TacSat 3 - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 2009-028-A
This is my 5th sighting of TacSat-3, a US recon satellite which launched in 2009 and, among other technologies, uses the Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer (ARTEMIS) hyperspectral imager.
8:42 PM - Name: Lacrosse 3 - Magnitude: 2.2
Int'l Designator: 1997-064-A
This is my 4th sighting of Lacrosse 3, a US recon satellite.
8:43 PM - Name: Helios 1B - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1999-064-A
This is my 12th sighting of this French photo-reconnaissance satellite. It was sent up in 1999 but the power supply failed in 2004 so it has been left to decay (which is obviously has not done yet). I tried to find an estimated date of decay, but failed to find any such calculations.
8:49 PM - Name: Cosmos 1340 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1982-013-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It's been quite a while since my last sighting on Oct 8 2010. Eventually, I'll set up a database so I can run reports to find the longest / shortest time between sightings, greatest number of sightings and that kinda thing.
8:59 PM - Name: Iridium 4 Dl Rocket - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 1997-020-F
This is my 5th sighting of this Delta 7920 (Delta II) rocket which was used to launch the first set of five Iridium satellites (Iridium 4,5,6,7,8) into orbit.
No comments:
Post a Comment