Catching Vanguard 3

Some in here may have caught on that I've been "collecting" views of
1950's space junk. Hardly spectacular stuff, but if you were a
spellbound kid during the dawn of the space age, well... you older guys
understand.
Tonight, "Heavens Above" predicted a relatively "bright" 9.2
magnitude pass of the Vanguard 3 satellite. Vanguard 3 was launched
Sept. 18, 1959. It looked pretty much like a satellite is "supposed" to
look... a 20 inch (50.8 cm) polished sphere with several antennas
sticking out. What gave it a rather distinctive appearance was that it
wore a magnetometer in a glass phenolic tube attached to the sphere,
sort of like a sorcerer's hat:
http://library01.gsfc.nasa.gov/gdpro...nguard_iii.jpg
http://content.answers.com/main/cont...Vanguard_3.jpg
According to Wikipedia...
"The objectives of the flight were to measure the earth's magnetic
field, the solar X-ray radiation and its effects on the earth's
atmosphere, and the near-earth micrometeoroid environment."
ANYWAY, I decided to go out and catch sight of this little bugger
as it sailed though Aquarius... The moon was BRIGHT, barely past full,
and I almost gave up while I was setting up. I actually had a hard time
finding the water jar of Aquarius to start my starhop a bit further
south to find Theta Aquarii, which the satellite was supposed to pass
just south of at 7:57:27. It took me several tries to find the water
jar, and at one time, some anonymous satellite passed through the FOV of
my finder scope. Must be teasing me... Finally, I managed to find the
asterism in my finder scope, and hopped south to Theta. Then I moved a
little further east, flipped up to a higher power eyepiece to darken the
sky a bit, and waited...
It was a little chilly out at 28 degrees, (-2 C) and I was feeling
it in my fingers. Also, I was having trouble picking up a clear time
signal on my shortwave, and I had to hold it in the air at an odd
angle... I heard the voice say 57 minutes on the shortwave, and started
counting beeps... then, at 7:57:30, a little dot sailed smoothly through
my field of view! BINGO! According to the ground track, Vanguard 3
passed overhead a little south of Lubbock Texas... considerably south
and a bit west of my house in West Central Iowa. I didn't attempt to
follow it... in less than 10 seconds it would disappear into earth's
shadow.
I looked around a bit, but there really wasn't much else to look at
on a full moon night, so I broke everything down and hauled it back into
the house. The scope is warming up now, waiting for me to put it to bed
in it's footlocker.
It was a good night, and I have to admit, sometimes that full moon
IS pretty...
Marty

Marty,

Thanks for taking time to post the space junk report(s)! I enjoy doing the
same from time-to-time.

Clear Skies,
Scott Smith
Ridgetop, TN

"Marty" wrote in message
...
Some in here may have caught on that I've been "collecting" views of
1950's space junk. Hardly spectacular stuff, but if you were a
spellbound kid during the dawn of the space age, well... you older guys
understand.
Tonight, "Heavens Above" predicted a relatively "bright" 9.2
magnitude pass of the Vanguard 3 satellite. Vanguard 3 was launched
Sept. 18, 1959. It looked pretty much like a satellite is "supposed" to
look... a 20 inch (50.8 cm) polished sphere with several antennas
sticking out. What gave it a rather distinctive appearance was that it
wore a magnetometer in a glass phenolic tube attached to the sphere,
sort of like a sorcerer's hat:
http://library01.gsfc.nasa.gov/gdpro...nguard_iii.jpg
http://content.answers.com/main/cont...Vanguard_3.jpg
According to Wikipedia...
"The objectives of the flight were to measure the earth's magnetic
field, the solar X-ray radiation and its effects on the earth's
atmosphere, and the near-earth micrometeoroid environment."
ANYWAY, I decided to go out and catch sight of this little bugger
as it sailed though Aquarius... The moon was BRIGHT, barely past full,
and I almost gave up while I was setting up. I actually had a hard time
finding the water jar of Aquarius to start my starhop a bit further
south to find Theta Aquarii, which the satellite was supposed to pass
just south of at 7:57:27. It took me several tries to find the water
jar, and at one time, some anonymous satellite passed through the FOV of
my finder scope. Must be teasing me... Finally, I managed to find the
asterism in my finder scope, and hopped south to Theta. Then I moved a
little further east, flipped up to a higher power eyepiece to darken the
sky a bit, and waited...
It was a little chilly out at 28 degrees, (-2 C) and I was feeling
it in my fingers. Also, I was having trouble picking up a clear time
signal on my shortwave, and I had to hold it in the air at an odd
angle... I heard the voice say 57 minutes on the shortwave, and started
counting beeps... then, at 7:57:30, a little dot sailed smoothly through
my field of view! BINGO! According to the ground track, Vanguard 3
passed overhead a little south of Lubbock Texas... considerably south
and a bit west of my house in West Central Iowa. I didn't attempt to
follow it... in less than 10 seconds it would disappear into earth's
shadow.
I looked around a bit, but there really wasn't much else to look at
on a full moon night, so I broke everything down and hauled it back into
the house. The scope is warming up now, waiting for me to put it to bed
in it's footlocker.
It was a good night, and I have to admit, sometimes that full moon
IS pretty...
Marty