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Just spotted the MESSENGER second stage



 
 
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  #11  
Old August 31st 04, 09:50 AM
Ed Cannon
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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
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  #12  
Old September 16th 04, 11:20 AM
Ed Cannon
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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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