Saturday, March 26, 2011

March 24 2011 satellite spotting session

Got a fairly clear night on March 24 2011. I had my list all printed out and I kinda just rushed outside. The past few sessions had been in fairly mild weather where I didn't need a hat, gloves, wool socks, or even a sweatshirt. However, this even I _should_ have had those things... I didn't. Well... actually, I was smart enough to bring out my hat and gloves, but I was only wearing a t-shirt under my coat and had on super thin cotton socks. After this nearly 2 hour session, my feet and my butt was frozen.

Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 24-Mar-2011 Thursday


8:27 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 aka Meteor PRIRODA - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-A
This was my 3rd sighting of this Russian Meteor-Priroda meteorological satellite, Meteor 1-31. Meteor 1-31 was put into orbit using a Vostok-2M rocket. I don't know much about this particular model of Meteor satellite, other than the Meteor-Priroda model used electrically-powered spacecraft propulsion. Usually people talk about ion / plasma propulsion drives, however the Meteor-Priroda used an electrothermal drive which involves magnets creating heat for the propellant or something. Read the wiki if you want to know more.

8:28 PM - Name: Shijian6-3Aptr aka CZ-4B DEB - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 2008-053-D
This is my 8th sighting of this piece of debris from a Long March 4B rocket. This rocket was used to launch the Chinese Shijian 6E and 6F space environment (and likely ELINT) satellites.

8:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1674 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1985-069-B
This is my first sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, Kosmos 1674.

8:45 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-A
This is my second sighting of Kosmos 1441, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was launched into orbit in 1983 using a Vostok-2M rocket. I last observed this satellite on October 8th 2010.

8:50 PM - Name: Cosmos 1263 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1981-033-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. It was used to put the Russian Taifun-1 radar calibration sphere Kosmos 1263 in the year 1981.

8:52 PM - Name: Cosmos 220 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1968-040-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. It was used to launch the Russian Tsiklon satellite navigation satellite Kosmos 220 in the year 1968. Tsiklon was the first Soviet satellite navigation system. Kosmos 220 was the second Tsiklon satellite to be launched into orbit.

8:57 PM - Name: Helios 1B - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1999-064-A
This is my 13th sighting of Helios 1B, the French photo-recon satellite.

9:00 PM - Name: Cosmos 1674 - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 1985-069-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 1674, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite.

9:00 PM - Name: Cosmos 1733 - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1986-018-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1733, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1986.

9:01 PM - Name: Cartosat 2 Rocket aka PSLV R/B
Magnitude: 4.0 - Int'l Designator: 2007-001-E
This is my 3rd sighting of this Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. This particular vehicle launched 4 satellites into orbit.

9:06 PM - Name: Cosmos 1605 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.1
Int'l Designator: 1984-109-B
This is my first sighting of Kosmos-3M rocket. It was used to launch the Russian Parus communication and navigation satellite Kosmos 1605 in the year 1984.

9:07 PM - Name: Cosmos 1354 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1982-037-B
This is my first sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket. It was used to launch the Russian Strela-2M military communication satellite Kosmos 1354 in the year 1982.

9:11 PM - Name: Cosmos 1300 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1981-082-B
This is my first sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket. It was used to put the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite Kosmos 1300 into orbit in 1981.

9:24 PM - Name: Lacrosse 4 Rocket - Magnitude: 1.7
Int'l Designator: 2000-047-B
This is my second sighting of this Titan IV-B rocket which was used to launch the US reconnaissance satellite Lacrosse 4.

9:33 PM - Name: Cosmos 405 - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1971-028-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 405, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite. It was launched into orbit in 1971 using a Vostok-2M rocket.

9:43 PM - Name: Meteor 3M Rocket - Magnitude: 2.8
Int'l Designator: 2001-056-F
This is my sixth sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch five satellite, including the Russian Meteor 3M-1 meteorological satellite.

9:46 PM - Name: Okean 1-7 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 1994-066-B
This is my first sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket. It was used to put the Russian Okean O1-7 oceanography satellite into orbit in 1994.

9:44 PM - Name: ADEOS 2 - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 4th sighting ADEOS II, the Japanese Advanced Earth Observing Satellite 2.

10:01 PM - Name: SJ 11-01 LM Rocket aka CZ-2C R/B - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 2009-061-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Long March 2C rocket. It was used to launch the Chinese Shijian 11-1 space experiment satellite in 2009.

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