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 "