Unid 3/26/06 21:17:54 local time

Unid
Date/Time: 3/26/06 Time 21:17:54 local time
My location : 1.4341 N, 103.7957
+8 UT
Singapore
This flasher left trail in marked 1,2,3,4,5. For 2,3,5 a series of 2-3 quick flashes.
See this link for individual flash timing.

Mstar3 CentRk or 99023B

Reprocesed Digi8 Dv tape recording through UFOCaptureV2. Saw Mstar3 CentRk or 99023B on screen with a couple of bright flashes ( marked as 1 ,2 3) in first image. As I re-positioned the lens I missed small portion of the trail. See 2nd image ( Use lambda Vel as reference point to relate the two images). For ID I ran in SkyMap using bulk tle from space-track but yielded nothing then I switched to Mike's Classfd.tle and ID it . As usual please CLICK the image(s) to see larger version(s).

Tumbling Iridium 920 -97-034C

Caught non-operative Iridium 920 flashing pass the 'V' shaped asterism in Puppis. Playback of the video revealed a d-d-b cycles (d=dimmer flash, b= bright flash). Enlarged view of the tracks revealed a more complicated within flash patterns ( see insert image - the subtle change in flash resulted in a DNA-like nodule bandings). The insert '>' marked the brightest flash location. CLICK image to have a closer look youself.

Molniya 3-46 in better sky

Another attempt of the Molniya 3-46. This time the trail is cleaner. The p= 19.92/2=9.86 sec. Look at the mark >> and > in the image. CLICK to see larger version.

Molniya 3-46 very dim but it was there

Using a slightly longer focus lens ie 75mm I managed to detect the rather dim (>+8 mag) Molniya 3-46 or 94-051A in the hazy sky. It was at Range=2583Km and phase angle of 72 degree.

A Fountain Pen in the sky - ( bright fireball trail)

A few video frames of the fireball... and a composite of these video frames below.

3:52 AM March 11 Saturday : As if the meteors wanted to have a say ( after my March 10 posting of a bright iridium flare see image in another post below), x1 bright meteor appeared in Lupus. The peak-hold image resembled a ' fountain-pen' . Video and a composite from just a few frame.

Grand daddy of all Flares!

Grand daddy of all flares - A -7 magnitude flare from Iridium # 52 just before 8pm. A helicopter created a wavy horizonal streak at top of frame. Click the image for a closer look. Follow this link to watch the video ( 2Mb)

-2 mag slow Meteor near Vela (Sail)

I took a brief break away from the screen and when I returned, the screen registered a bright trail. A single frame revealed a 'fig'-shaped meteor. It was much brighter than the Sirius, est to be - 2 mag or less.

I was watching the screen then this dot got bigger

I was watching the PC screen when suddenly the flared happened. I quickly hit the record key. The flare looked very much like iridium flare. Using Skymap object was IDed - Transat or 77-106A. Follow this link to watch the video.

molniya 3-43/92-085A

I have the object matching molniya 3-43 (92-085A) but the period does not match the 4.4 sec reported. Instead I saw 2.3596 ( 58.99/25). CLICK image for larger view. After I submitted the flash timings ( obtained from frame-by-frame inspection of brightest spots of all flashes in the raw DV AVI) to Bjorn , he came back with the period of 4.702 ( see the correspondance and plots from him).

** Mar 06 update (Thanks to Mr Kurt Jonckheere , according to him I was seeing secondary flashes ie 1/2 period timing) => 2x2.3596 or 4.719.

** Mar 12 *Update "Bj" wrote: I plotted your flash measurements, and found them to be very accurate. The spread is +-0.04 s, of which at least +-0.03 s is due to timing resolution and/or image frequency/exposure time. Using 4.702 s period, it is obvious that the first and last flash is part of a main sequence, of which only flash #4 is missing. The secondary maxima lack the last five flashes. (Graph 92-85A.gif sent to yK ) See chart below Plotting 2.351 s period you can see that the secondary maxima are about .04 s after the mid-period, getting slightly closer by the end. (92-85A2.gif ) The 4.4 s you refer to (old observation?) is very reasonable, assuming it also used the full period, or the secondaries couldn't be seen.

My (attempt of) PPAS report was made with the help of PPASinp.exe v.2, slightly edited: " 92- 85 A 06-03-04 15:24:36.67YK 89.4 0.04 19 4.702 F'FF'sm "

C2006/A1 Pojmanski Early AM

05:45 - alarm clock rang, looked out the window - Crux was there, sky not great

05:55 - Venus looks halo-ed (oh no! low clouds!)
06:00 - Powered up Pc and printed star chart
06:10 - Set up the "co-axis - twin- lenses tripod" setup after moving a blocking potted plant.
06:15 - Star-hopped (25mm lens) Venus/Cap Alpha1/Beta to general area of comet.
06:20 - Switched over to 100mm lens/Mintron, comet popped out as a soft circular spot, very close to a mag 8.5+ star
06:32 - Stop recording

x1 single flash in Lepus

Framed by the 4 stars of Lepus, clockwise- alpha, beta, gamma and delta Lepus,
a 641Km range close passage of Sea Lan Dem rocket ( 99-014B) created x1 flash in centre of FOV.