Date:         Fri, 8 Mar 1996 11:05:45 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@mtest.teradyne.com (William Abbott)
Subject:      ex-tethered satellite

	Friends,
	No direct VW content but this would be a cool excuse to pack up
and go camping out away from city lights, and with an alarm clock!

	I woke up early this morning and saw, at about 5:21am, the
now-un-tethered satellite scoot over in the dark sky before dawn!
Promissed arrival time over Fresno was 5:19 so I arrived at a convenient
viewing place at 5:16 or so and scanned the sky. I saw nothing for 
several minutes, up to and after the 5:19 time, 
	It wasn't quite overhead when I did spot it- a point of light
which didn't vary in intensity (airplane lights blink) and moved with
great speed. I put out my hand at arm's lenght and made a fist- 20 years
ago in Astronomy 3xx we'd calibrated our hands as rough angular measurement
tools and I remembered mine as 10 degrees wide. It took about 23 seconds
for the object I think was the satellite to pass the width of my fist. 
As promissed, it appeared to be moving from West to East I tracked it
for over a minute, until it disappeared into the clouds well above
the south-eastern horizon.
	Its not the brightest thing up there, but it is not hard to spot,
even through a light haze and in a suburban environment. I recomend it!

	The satellite appears from the West and goes East because (1) 
Launches from the Kennedy Space Flight Center are aimed from Florida 
out into the Atlantic Ocean for safety's sake. (2) this location/direction
allow the many hundreds of mph speed of the earth's roatation near
the tropics to be taken advantage of in accelerating satellites to
orbital velocity (17,000mph+).
	The low altitude of the satellite gives it a short orbital period
so it appears to move rapidly when viewed from the ground. (A geosynchronous
satellite, like a TV or phone relay, appears to stand still in the sky
because it is at 22,000 miles altitude and orbits in 24 hours, thus is
always above the same spot. Objects highter than that would appear
to be going backwards...)

	Times and places to look at/from:

> <other parts of the US edited out>
> >  FRESNO, Calif.
> >    March 8, 5:19 a.m.; March 9, 5:33 a.m.
> >  LOS ANGELES
> >    March 7, 5:02 a.m.; March 8, 5:18 a.m.; March 9, 5:32 a.m.
> >  SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.
> >    March 7, 5:02 a.m.; March 8, 5:18 a.m.; March 9, 5:32 a.m.
> >  SAN DIEGO
> >    March 6, 4:46 a.m.; March 7, 5:02 a.m.; March 8, 5:18 a.m.; March 9, 5:32
> > a.m.
> >  SAN FRANCISCO
> >    March 9, 5:33 a.m.

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