wrote:
Can anyone identify this satellite?

To the group:

Last night I observed a very bright satellite that I've been unable
to identify using heavens-above.com, and I'm hoping that someone in
this group might be able to tell me what I saw.

Here are the particulars:

Observation date and time: 0112 to 0113 GMT 06 June 2006 (margin of
error: plus or minus one minute)

Observer's location: 27.336N, 82.531W (Sarasota, Florida, USA)

Apparent motion of object: From NNW to SSE

Estimated maximum altitude: East at 75 degrees

Lowest observed altitude/time: SSE at 15-20 degrees (object faded
consistent with entering shadow)/0113 GMT 06 June 2006 (margin of
error: plus or minus one minute)

Estimated brightness: Magnitude -0.5

Quality of light/color: Steady (no flares)/light orange

Speed of pass: Appeared to be about 25% faster than "average" pass
of most satellites in low earth orbit

Observing conditions: Clear with a little less than a half moon high in
the sky

Additional details: I was not looking for a satellite in this part of
the sky when I saw this object, and when it caught my attention it had
already passed beyond its maximum elevation, thus I can only estimate
its maximum elevation by extrapolation of its observed path. At first I
thought it was low-flying airplane because of its speed (about 25%
faster than most satellites I've observed) and its brightness (I'm
not very good at estimating brightness, but it must have been in the
neighborhood of -0.5 based upon reference to a number of Space Shuttle
passes I've observed), but there were no flashing lights nor were
there wingtip navigation lights. The color remained a steady light
orange and did not flash. I observed the object for about 90 seconds
until it faded into darkness at bout 15 degrees above the SSE horizon
(the rate of fade was consistent with the way satellites fade when they
enter the shadow, and based upon predictions on heavens-above.com for
other satellites that were in that area of the sky around that time,
this would have been the area where the shadow would have been
encountered.)

Can anyone in the group identify this bird?

Using Heavens-Above, I find that Rosat (90049A / 20638) most likely is
what you observed:

http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDet...4.053537 7746

The predicted and observed path are in reasonably good agreement,
considering that you saw only the tail end of the pass. Predicted and
observed eclipse entry elevation also agree well. However, predicted
and observed time disagree by more than your stated margin of
uncertainty. Also, it was quite a bit brighter than predicted, but not
unreasonably so, given that satellites can flare.

I found one report of a reddish colour by an experienced satellite
observer:

http://satobs.org/seesat/Aug-1995/0105.html

I also found these photos which show that the object is predominantly
yellow/red, mainly due to the colour of its thermal blanket:

http://wave.xray.mpe.mpg.de/rosat/calendar/1993/nov

http://wave.xray.mpe.mpg.de/rosat/calendar/1994/nov

Ted Molczan