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Bill Thompson wrote:
Ed Cannon wrote: At least these three others are still in orbit, all Inertial Upper Stage vehicles: Magellan IUS 1 19970U 89033C 04231.86902853 .00000884 00000-0 34505-3 0 2285 2 19970 27.8448 148.1258 6209025 231.5157 54.6280 3.71287104193919 Galileo IUS r 5.0 2.5 0.0 4.5 v 17 1 20299U 89084C 04236.47718732 .00196744 -14542-6 82001-3 0 3931 2 20299 34.0971 0.8441 2055500 356.0110 2.6111 11.54188165274282 Ulysses Rk 1 20843U 90090C 04232.60258109 .00002022 00000-0 90991-3 0 2773 2 20843 28.4306 320.5979 6868684 350.6587 1.3564 2.79124256134732 Thanks for posting these; I hadm't realized they were still in orbit. I spotted the Galileo object just before dawn today. I saw it through a 6" reflector, and it seemed bright enough to be spotted through binoculars. Last night it struck me that there's at least one other one up there that launched an interplanetary flight. It's the Delta that launched Deep Space 1 (as well as another payload, Sedsat 1): SEDSat Delta r 5.9 2.4 0.0 5.0 d 12 1 25510U 98061C 04239.27188251 .00000275 00000-0 37887-4 0 1903 2 25510 31.4336 203.9386 0345563 192.8989 166.2602 14.32377015305259 DS1 flew by an asteroid and a comet and tested ion propulsion. http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/...ds1success.htm This Delta is currently making evening passes over the continental 48 states of the USA. The Galileo IUS can be seen without magnification on near-perigee passes. I can't remember if I've seen the Magellan or Ulysses vehicles. (I'm not very good at keeping organized records.) I would think they also can be quite bright on near-perigee passes. Ed Cannon - - Austin, Texas, USA (Remove "donotspam".) |
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A night or two ago I got a prediction for yet another launch vehicle
of a deep space mission. The second stage of the Delta that launched the Stardust spacecraft to Comet Wild 2 is still in orbit: Stardust Del r 7.0 2.4 0.0 5.0 d 13 1 25619U 99003B 04256.06021360 .00010258 -13725-5 51059-3 0 6539 2 25619 22.4547 219.6876 2864167 116.1774 275.9826 9.60815584188450 Here's a Boeing page about its launch: http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/...stardust0207.h tm So today there are at least six such interplanetary launch vehicles still up the 19970 89-033C Magellan IUS 20299 89-084C Galileo IUS 20843 90-090C Ulysses IUS 25510 98-061C SEDSat Delta Rk (launched Deep Space 1 also) 25619 99-003B Stardust Delta Rk 28390 04-030B MESSENGER Delta Rk Regarding seeing Iridium flares, an added challenge for those who've seen them all (from the main mission antennas) could be to get Rob Matson's Iridflar program and get predictions for flares from the solar panels. That program also will predict flares from reflected moonlight! A few people have reported observing them. I believe the brightest they can be is about +8 magnitude (maybe +7?), and they're brief. Ed Cannon - - Austin, Texas, USA (Remove "donotspam".) |
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