I had a pretty decent weekend.
On Saturday, I got a chance to walk outside with lil N to park and back using the trail behind the house. There is a little 'waterfall' farther down the trail that I did not know existed. I always assumed that the trail connected to the park down the street, but just never ventured that far down the trail to find out.
On Sunday, the lot of us went to the zoo where we saw the baby gorilla and the baby elephant, but we didn't get to see the 'baby' lions.
I had four satellite sessions in the past week. I reached a major milestone: I got to see object number 500! Took me 6 months and 15 days to achieve this.
Last Monday was cloudy as all get out, so I only got to see one. Other nights the clouds started rolling in in the evening. On Sunday, the clouds were hovering in the west for must of the evening. Thankfully it was a rather calm night. For the last four sessions I also had to deal with the moon being high and BRIGHT in the sky, but I still managed by blocking it with my hand when things were in the 60 - 90 degree range.
BTW... if you're curious what I see at night, this is a pretty good estimation. I still have yet to have a session with my buds Todd, Tom and Kevin. Maybe I'll get the chance last this spring to show my friends what a goober I am. :P Anywayzzzz, this example video shows a pair of NOSS 3 satellites passing overhead. My satellite log is below the video:
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 7-Mar-2011 Monday
7:34 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-B
This is my 10th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which launched the Russian meteorological satellite Meteor 1-31 in 1981.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 11-Mar-2011 Friday
7:31 PM - Name: Cosmos 2369 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.5
Int'l Designator: 2000-006-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite Kosmos 2369 in 2000.
7:31 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-B
This is my 11th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which launched the Russian meteorological satellite Meteor 1-31 in 1981.
7:37 PM - Name: Cosmos 2058 - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1990-010-A
This is my 1st sighting of Cosmos 2058, a Russian Tselina-R ELINT satellite. Kosmos 2058 was launched into orbit in 1990 using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
7:45 PM - Name: NOSS 3-2 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 2003-054-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Atlas IIAS Centaur upper stage. This rocket was used to launch a pair of NOSS 3 satellites (in particular, the pair known as NOSS 3-2... which is the pair featured in the video above).
7:52 PM - Name: Spot 1 ARk DbZ -or- deb Ariane - Magnitude: 4.5
Int'l Designator: 1986-019-Z
This is my 1st sighting of this piece of debris from an Ariane rocket. This particular rocket was used to launch the Spot 1 and Viking (Sweden) satellites. This Ariane rocket in particular exploded into 489 cataloged objects on November 13, 1986, 8 months after launch. It is not sure what caused this explosion, though typically this is caused by either an exploding battery or residual fuel left in the rocket. As for the satellites it deployed, the Spot 1 satellite is a high-resolution, optical earth imaging satellite. It appears to be used for scientific, not military use. Viking was Sweden's first satellite and was designed to explore plasma processes in the magnetosphere and the ionosphere.
7:53 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite Kosmos 1441 in 1983.
7:57 PM - Name: Cosmos 1703 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 1985-108-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite Kosmos 1703 in 1985.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 12-Mar-2011 Saturday
7:30 PM - Name: COS B Dl Rocket - Magnitude: 2.7
Int'l Designator: 1975-072-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Delta 2913 rocket body. This rocket was used to put the European COS B satellite in orbit. It was the first satellite for the European Space Research Organization, was launched by NASA on their behalf, and went on to study gamma ray sources as well as studying the infamous Cygnus X3 pulsar. Here is a pic of the satellite.
7:30 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-B
This is my 12th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which launched the Russian meteorological satellite Meteor 1-31 in 1981.
7:34 PM - Name: Cosmos 407 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.4
Int'l Designator: 1971-035-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite Kosmos 407 in 1975.
7:36 PM - Name: Shijian6-3Aptr - Magnitude: 3.6
Int'l Designator: 2008-053-D
This is my 6th sighting of this piece of debris from a Long March 4B rocket which launched the Chinese satellites Shijian 6E and 6F.
7:42 PM - Name: Meteor 3M Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 2001-056-F
This is my 5th sighting of this Zenit-2 rocket which was used to launch the Russian meteorological satellite Meteor 3M-1, as well as four other satellites. The other satellites were Compass (Russia - Complex Orbital Magneto-Plasma Autonomous Small Satellite), Badr B (Pakistan - meteorological), Maroc-Tubsat (Morocco, Germany - Earth remote sensing and vegetation detection) and Reflector (USA - Retro-reflector Ensemble For Laser Experiments, Calibration, Testing & Optical Research).
7:42 PM - Name: Cosmos 2208 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1992-053-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite Kosmos 2208 in 1992.
7:45 PM - Name: Cosmos 1782 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.8
Int'l Designator: 1986-074-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite in 1986.
7:45 PM - Name: Shijian 6-3B -or- SJ-6F - Magnitude: 3.9
Int'l Designator: 2008-053-B
This is my 6th sighting of the Chinese Shijian 6F satellite. This satellite was launched into orbit (along with its brother SJ-6E) using a Long March 2B rocket and according to the Chinese government is studying the environment of space (though it is rumored that it also contains ELINT technology tests as well).
7:48 PM - Name: Cosmos 1908 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1988-001-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite Kosmos 1908 in 1988.
7:49 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.7
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite Kosmos 1441 in 1983.
7:58 PM - Name: TacSat 3 - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2009-028-A
This is my 3rd sighting of TacSat 3, a type U.S. recon satellite (one of MANY other types of US recon sats) which had three sensors, the main one being the Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer (ARTEMIS) hyperspectral imager. TacSat-3 was put into orbit using a Minotaur I rocket which is a modified Minuteman II ICBM.
8:02 PM - Name: Cosmos 676 Rocket - Magnitude: 4.0
Int'l Designator: 1974-071-B
This is my 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Strela-2M communications satellite Kosmos 676 in 1974.
8:03 PM - Name: 99025DRG -or- deb FY-1C - Magnitude: 6.2
Int'l Designator: 1999-025-DRG
This is my 1st sighting of this piece of debris from the Chinese Fengyun-1C (FY-1C) meteorological satellite. Where did this piece of debris come from? Well, it seems that not so long ago in 2007 the Chinese government decided that they wanted to try out some anti-satellite technology. So, the ended up obliterating a weather satellite in high orbit. The test is the largest recorded creation of space debris in history with at least 2,300 pieces of trackable size (golf ball size and larger). Unlike the time when the US obliterated a failed spy satellite which was in low orbit and all debris decayed in a few months, FY-1C was in a high and very stable orbit... which means that this crap will be up there for a very very very very long time. According to a NASA report, debris that is 800km above the earth (FY-1C was at an altitude of 865 kilometers (537 mi)) will take decades to return back to earth. At 1000km, it can take a century or more. So, by my guesstimate, this crap will be circling probably until 2075. yay.
8:08 PM - Name: Cosmos 2263 - Magnitude: 4.2
Int'l Designator: 1993-059-A
This is my 1st sighting of Kosmos 2263, a Russian Tselina-2 ELINT satellite that was put into orbit in 1993 using a Zenit-2 rocket.
Here's the time-line for the evening of:
Date: 14-Mar-2011 Monday
8:29 PM - Name: Helios 1B - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1999-064-A
This is my 11th sighting of the French photo-recon satellite Helios 1B.
8:29 PM - Name: Meteor 1-31 Rocket - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1981-065-B
This is my 13th sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which launched the Russian meteorological satellite Meteor 1-31 in 1981.
8:37 PM - Name: NOSS 3-3 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.1
Int'l Designator: 2005-004-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Atlas IIIB rocket which was used to launch the NOSS 3-3 pair of satellites (NOSS-3 3A, NOSS-3 3B).
8:37 PM - Name: JB-3 - Magnitude: 4.5
Int'l Designator: 2004-044-A
This is my 2nd (though, possibly first since the first sighting sin Sep 2010 was questionable) of this Ziyuan-2 (Chinese for Resource 2) satellite. It's also known as JianBing-3 3. The Chinese government lists this as a civilian earth observation satellite, however some speculate that this is part of China's first military high resolution imaging satellite system.
8:40 PM - Name: Cosmos 1441 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.5
Int'l Designator: 1983-010-B
This is my 3rd sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite Kosmos 1441 in 1983.
8:42 PM - Name: UARS - Magnitude: 0.4
Int'l Designator: 1991-063-B
This is NUMBER 500!!! This is my 2nd sighting of UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite). I'm amazed, honestly, that I've made it this far this quick. Five hundred objects in 6 months seems fast to me. That's 83 objects a month.
8:51 PM - Name: Shijian6-3Aptr - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 2008-053-D
This is my 7th sighting of this piece of Long March 4B debris. I have yet to figure out what 'ptr' is about. Obviously CalSky has it as being part of the SJ6-3A but Heavens-Above has it as being CZ-4B debris. Anyways, I don't know if I'll ever know what the heck this thing is.
8:54 PM - Name: Cosmos 1437 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1983-003-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Vostok-2M rocket which launched the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite Kosmos 1437 in 1983.
8:59 PM - Name: ADEOS 2 - Magnitude: 3.0
Int'l Designator: 2002-056-A
This is my 3rd sighting of ADEOS II (Advanced Earth Observing Satellite 2), a Japanese earth observation satellite.
9:02 PM - Name: Cosmos 407 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1971-035-B
This is 2nd sighting of this Kosmos-3M rocket which was used to launch the Russian Strela-2M military communications satellite Kosmos 407 in 1975.
9:04 PM - Name: Iridium 4 Dl Rocket - Magnitude: 3.3
Int'l Designator: 1997-020-F
This is my 4th sighting of this Delta II rocket (a Delta-7920-10C to be exact) which was used to launch the first set of Iridium satellites, Iridium 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Iridium 01, 02 and 03 were not put into orbit.
9:06 PM - Name: TacSat 3 - Magnitude: 3.2
Int'l Designator: 2009-028-A
This is my 4th sighting of TacSat-3, a U.S. recon satellite featuring ARTEMIS.
9:11 PM - Name: Okean 1-7 - Magnitude: 2.9
Int'l Designator: 1994-066-A
This is my 1st sighting of Okean 1-7, a Russian oceanography satellite. It was launched into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.
9:19 PM - Name: Cosmos 2151 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.4
Int'l Designator: 1991-042-B
This is my 1st sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to launch the Russian Tselina-R ELINT satellite Kosmos 2151 in 1991.
More (not so) interesting numbers:
Number of objects seen per month (running total):
Aug 2010 - 1 (1)
Sep 2010 - 25 (26)
Oct 2010 - 166 (192)
Nov 2010 - 89 (281)
Dec 2010 - 26 (307)
Jan 2011 - 32 (339)
Feb 2011 - 109 (448)
Mar 2011 (through Mar 14th) - 59 (507)
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