March 28 2011 session

Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 28-Mar-2011 Monday

8:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1300 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1981-082-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to put the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite into orbit in 1981.

8:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1703 - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1985-108-A
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1703, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite that was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1985.

8:47 PM - Name: PSLV R/B - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 2007-001-E
This is my 4th sighting of this Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from India which was used to put the Cartosat-2 Indian earth observation satellite (and 3 other satellites from Indian, Indonesia and Argentina) into orbit in 2007.

8:49 PM - Name: shooting star - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: none
This object was a yellow shooting star that was nearly horizontal in the sky going from west to northwest at around 45 degrees in the horizon.

8:49 PM - Name: Cosmos 1315 - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1981-103-A
This is my 2nd sighting of Kosmos 1315, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite that was put into orbit in 1981 using a Vostok-2M rocket.

8:51 PM - Name: Cosmos 405 - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1971-028-A
This is my 5th sighting of Kosmos 405, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite that was put into orbit using a Vostok-2M rocket in 1971.

8:51 PM - Name: Resurs 1-4 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 1998-043-G
This is my 26th (!!!) sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket. My sightings of "Ye Olde Brgith and Faithpul" have been sparse lately, only 4 sightings in the past four months, but I believe that sightings should be soon coming more frequently. I really am looking forward to my 50th sighting of this (or any) object.

8:57 PM - Name: Shijian6-3Aptr (or CZ-4B DEB) - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 2008-053-D
This is my 10th sighting of this piece of debris from a Long March 4B rocket which was used to launch a couple of Shijian 6 satellites.

9:18 PM - Name: Resurs DK-1 - Magnitude: 2.3
Int'l Designator: 2006-021-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Resurs DK-1, a Russian commercial earth observation satellite which was put into orbit in 2006 using a Soyuz-U rocket.

9:19 PM - Name: Koronas-Foton Rocket (or SL-14 R/B) - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 2009-003-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to put the Russian solar research satellite, Koronas-Foton, into orbit in 2009.

9:20 PM - Name: ARGOS - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 1999-008-A
This is my first sighting of the ARGOS satellite. ARGOS (Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite) is a satellite that was funded by the Department of Defense and contains 9 different sensors that were developed by 9 different researchers. The amount of stuff this satellite was researching is crazy. Everything from upper atmosphere readings to a couple different experimental propulsion systems. Read the wiki for the goods. ARGOS was put into orbit using a Delta II (Delta-7920-10 to be exact) in 1999.

9:20 PM - Name: Cosmos 1544 - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 1984-027-A
This is my first sighting of Cosmos 1544, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite which was launched into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1984.

9:22 PM - Name: Cosmos 2322 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.4
Int'l Designator: 1995-058-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which launched the Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite Kosmos 2322 in the year 1995.

9:22 PM - Name: Lacrosse 5 - Magnitude: 1.8
Int'l Designator: 2005-016-A
This is my 8th sighting of NRO reconnaissance satellite, Lacrosse 5, which was launched in 2005 using a Titan IV-B rocket.

9:30 PM - Name: Rubin 4/r - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2003-042-B
This is my first sighting of German Rubin 4 satellite. Runbin 4 is actually still attached to the Kosmos-3M rocket that sent it up there. According to the astronautix site: "The orbital telematics experiment transmited information on the rocket’s acceleration, vibration load and position via e-mail using the Orbcomm satellite communications system. In this way, it will be possible to track the rocket in orbit reliably and without any data loss." Cool. Rubin 4 was launched in 2003.

9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1818 - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 1987-011-A
This is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 1818, a Russian Plasma-A RORSAT satellite which, unlike the Tselina series, is a radar ocean reconnaissance satellite which looks for ships, submarines and the like.

9:39 PM - Name: NOSS 3-4 (A) - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2007-027-A
9:39 PM - Name: NOSS 3-4 (C) - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 2007-027-C
This is my first sighting of the NOSS 3-4 pair of satellites. NOSS stands for Naval Ocean Surveillance System and it is what it sounds like. I also spotted the NOSS 3-4 rocket back on Oct 1st 2010 so this might be my first time where I've spotted both the NOSS satellites and the rocket which put them into orbit. Anyhoo... NOSS 3-4 A and C were launched into orbit using part B which was an Atlas V 401 rocket in 2007. Also of note, the fourth pair (and possibly next generation) of NOSS 3 satellite were launched on Apr 15th 2011. I don't believe I've spotted the new guys yet, so I'll have to keep my eyes open.

9:41 PM - Name: Lacrosse 4 - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 2000-047-A
This is my 4th sighting of Lacrosse 4. It wasn't until just now that I realized that I spotted it's brother earlier in the evening. I don't believe that this is my first time doing so. I believe there was one evening where I spotted 3 of the 4 Lacrosse satellites that are still in orbit (Lacrosse 1 was deorbitted a while back).

9:43 PM - Name: ADEOS II - Magnitude: 2.0
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 5th sighting of the Japanese ADEOS II satellite. ADEOS 2 is short for 'Advanced Earth Observing Satellite 2'. Yeah, it is what it sounds like. :-) They are watching us. And everyone else.

9:47 PM - Name: Cosmos 1697 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 1985-097-B
This is my first sighting of Kosmos 1697, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite which was launched into orbit using a Zenit-2 rocket in 1985.