PM Sat. July 16 - Satellite Observing

  I've had a few good observing nights in June and so far in July, and made about 20 more variable star estimates. I haven't posted these to the site yet but may soon. 

  Yesterday evening (Saturday July 16) was clear at sunset but by the end of dusk clouds were starting to move in from the northwest. The clouds and the fact that there would be bright moonlight all night (the Moon was rising and 2 nights since Full Moon) made it not worth setting up the telescope, but I decided to get out the 7X35 binoculars, grab a patio chair, and watch for artificial satellites passing overhead. When I'd spot one by eye I'd follow it through the binoculars, jot down the time and position, and look up which satellite I saw online later when I was back inside. There was a flurry of activity between 10:55 PM - 11:10 PM where I saw 5 satellites, and I think I've identified them all this morning. Here's a summary:

  10:55 PM - Cosmos 2228 (#22286) (1992 - 094A) I spotted this one as a 3.0 magnitude steady object as it passed through the constellation Hercules into Draco, nearly overhead and heading north. The websites I researched gave it an orbit of 602 x 635 kilometers, inclination 82.5 degrees, and an orbital period of 97.07 minutes. It was launched December 26, 1992 by the Russians. 

  10:59 PM - Cosmos 1980 Rocket (#19650) (1988-102B) This was also steady in brightness, about 3.5 magnitude or brighter. I saw it pass through the constellation Lyra heading south to north. It has an orbit of 829 x 852 kilometers, inclination of 71.0 degrees, and a period of about 101.7 minutes. This was launched on November 24, 1988 by the Russians. Whenever I look at spent rockets in orbit I try to see if the magnitude brightens and dims to see if the rocket is tumbling in space, but this one either isn't tumbling or I was seeing it at the wrong angle.

  10:59 PM - Iridium 46 (#24905) (1997-043C) This was passing through Lyra at the same time as the Cosmos 1980 Rocket just mentioned, but it was going the opposite direction; from north to south. It was fainter at a steady 5.5 - 6.0 magnitude and faster, which showed it was in a lower orbit than the brighter satellite. It has an orbit of 776 x 779.4 kilometers, inclination of 86.4 degrees, and a period of about 100.4 minutes. It was launched August 21, 1997 by the USA. These satellites have super-reflective panels on them and are known to catch sunlight and flare up in brightness as seen from the ground below, but this one wasn't at the right angle to show a flare.

  11:06 PM - Thor Agena Rocket (#733) (1964-002A). This was bright and steady at about 2.5 - 3.0 magnitude. I saw it passing nearly overhead from Hercules to Draco heading north. It has an orbit of 762 x 812 kilometers, inclination 99.0 degrees, and a period of about 100.6 minutes. This is a super old rocket body from a launch on January 19, 1964, and it's still in orbit! It's a spent Agena rocket launched by the USA. Apparently it either isn't tumbling in orbit or I was seeing it at the wrong angle. After so many years since launch, if it had rotation in the past it probably stabilized a long time ago. 

  11:09 PM - I spotted a flash of light about 3.0 magnitude near Corona Borealis, high in the Northwest. When I trained the binoculars to that spot, I saw a faint object about 6.0 magnitude speeding off to the north, and while I was looking at it there was another brief flash where it brightened again to 3.0 magnitude. It faded again and disappeared into the trees to my north. I spent a lot of time using Calsky.com to try to find out what this one was, and the best match I have is this - USA 3 / Farrah 5 / KH 9-19 Elint (it seems to have at least 3 names) (#15071) (1984-065C). This is an aging US military satellite launched June 26, 1984. The orbit is 619 x 639 kilometers, inclination 95.9 degrees, period of about 97 minutes. I'm pretty sure this is a match and it's obviously tumbling. I'm going to find other pass predictions for this and try to get another look at it to know for sure if this ID is correct. I found out that this is a regular target for the Belgian Working Group of amateurs; known internationally for observing rotating satellites and rockets to determine how the rate of rotation changes over time. This was another reason I was pretty sure my ID was right.

  That was all the observing done tonight. Altocumulus bands moved in overhead and the moonlight was also an issue. It was also getting hazier as the night went on. Indianapolis is part of the newest big heat wave that's supposed to move in for the next week.

PM Sun. June 5th - AM Mon. June 6th Observing Notes 2

  (Catch-Up Notes) - After doing some lunar observing and taking photos through the eyepiece I left the telescope outside, and the dew caught up to it. By the time I went out to try to do some variable star work the big corrector lens in the front of the tube was fogged over. I had no choice but to take it inside and let it un-fog for a few hours. I didn't get it back outside until after midnight. It was still mostly clear but a little hazy. At zenith I could only see stars down to 4.3 magnitude and the limit through the telescope was 13.2 magnitude at best. I was outside between 1:35 AM - 2:40 AM and was able to make 5 variable star estimates before calling it a night. All of the stars I observed were YSO types. A couple of Bullfrogs were crooning away at a pond a few blocks away from us. Here are the estimates made tonight:

  1:52 AM (5:52 UT June 6) - VSX J182726.0-043447 was 11.5 magnitude. This is the star I call "Skiff's Star" for short, in the constellation Scutum. It seemed to be just barely dimmer than the 11.4 star nearby but much brighter than the nearby 12.0 star. I think this YSO dimmed just a little since I looked at it 2 nights before but this is iffy!

  2:04 AM (6:04 UT June 6) - WW Vulpeculae was 10.5 magnitude. It looks like this YSO brightened just a little since last week. I still haven't caught it taking a rapid plunge-and-recovery in brightness in two years of observing it; something it's known to do rarely. 

  2:16 AM (6:16 UT June 6) - SV Cephei was 10.6 magnitude. This is my first look at this YSO since observing it regularly last summer. Like the others, I still haven't caught a big dimming episode yet. 

  2:26 AM (6:26 UT June 6) - BO Cephei was 11.7 magnitude. This was another star I observed regularly all last summer. Mike Poxon suggested it to me then, but this YSO hasn't seemed to vary much yet. I did catch it dimmed to 12.0 magnitude early last September. 

   2:37 AM (6:37 UT June 6) - YZ Cephei was 11.5 magnitude. I observed this YSO regularly last summer also, and it shows a lot of small, quick changes in brightness. This was my first look at it this year.

PM Sun. June 5th - AM Mon. June 6th, 2011 Observing Notes 1

  (Catch-Up Notes) This night started out clear with a little haze. The temperature was in the high 70's F at the start of the night and calm winds were letting the humidity build up. The Moon was a thin Waxing Crescent about 4.2 days past New Moon. I did some lunar observing through the eyepiece and then tried to take some photos of it in my usual primitive way; holding my little Nikon Coolpix digital camera up to the eyepiece and hoping that some of the shots I took caught the image in focus while the air was steady.

  This photo probably turned out the best. It was taken at 10:03PM June 5 (2:03 UT June 6). The sunrise line on the Moon was at about 34.03 degrees E. North is down and south is up. The most obvious of the lunar "seas" are Mare Fecunditatis top and near the center, and the smaller, oval-looking Mare Crisium closer to the limb and a little below the center. The small craters in Mare Crisium still looked like dark spots because their floors were in shadow. The pair of big craters near the bottom of the picture are Atlas to the left and Hercules to the right. Near the top of the crescent the lunar highlands are really showy with all the craters and plateaus casting shadows on each other.