California's Strange Geosynchronous Flashing Object
Robert Sheaffer
Last night was at least the sixth night that a strange, stationary
flashing object was visible to observers in central California
approx. five degrees east of Comet Hale-Bopp (which is what led to
it being noticed). Its period is approx. 11.5 seconds.
I set up my 300MM Dobsonian
telescope, using alt-azimuth "setting circles", to see what times
it would be visible. The object first became visible approx. 20:13
local time (Sept. 22 03:13 UT), and was bright until 20:20. Its
flashes reached at least magnitude 4. The object was visible in
the telescope for about two minutes after that, getting fainter.
I was unable to see it after 20:22 or before 20:13, so it is
obviously dependent on a very precise sun angle to produce this
reflection. During this time it remained absolutely fixed
in the stationary telescope, proving that the object is in or
near geosynchronous orbit.
The identity of the object is not known with certainty; the leading
candidate seems to be the Gorizont 25 rocket (NORAD # 21925),
the upper stage of a Proton booster, known to be near that position.
From San Jose the object is at approximately altitude 40-41 degrees,
azimuth approx 211 degrees. During the time it is flashing, this
corresponds to a position of about 17h 38m RA, -8 deg dec. It
would be very interesting to know how wide is the area from which
this object can be seen, whether it is visible in different locations
at different times, etc. Assuming that the object
is tumbling freely in geosynchronous orbit, we can expect it to
drift in position and orientation. It is not known when the
object first became visible, or how long it will be visible.
I am not aware of any other reports of an object in geosynchronous
orbit producing regular, periodic flashes, especially such
bright ones. The first sighting of this object was with the
naked eye!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(how I first found out about it)
I received email, separate from this list, from an observer in
Northern California, concerning an unknown flashing object seen
near comet Hale-Bopp in the early evening sky, not long after sunset.
> I've been looking at Hale-Bopp with my naked eye the last four nights
> from my location in central California and have noticed a blinking light
> about five degrees east of the comet. It winks at about eleven second
> intervals. It has been in the same area for four nights. I see it around
> 8:00pm. Is it possible that I'm seeing a geosynchronous satellite? Have
> you seen it too? I'd appreciate any comments or insight.
--
Robert Sheaffer - rob...@debunker.com - Skeptical to the Max!
Visit my new Home Page - http://www.debunker.com/~sheaffer
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Dave Tholen
Robert Sheaffer writes:
> Last night was at least the sixth night that a strange, stationary
> flashing object was visible to observers in central California
> approx. five degrees east of Comet Hale-Bopp (which is what led to
> it being noticed). Its period is approx. 11.5 seconds.
> I set up my 300MM Dobsonian
> telescope, using alt-azimuth "setting circles", to see what times
> it would be visible. The object first became visible approx. 20:13
> local time (Sept. 22 03:13 UT), and was bright until 20:20. Its
> flashes reached at least magnitude 4. The object was visible in
> the telescope for about two minutes after that, getting fainter.
> I was unable to see it after 20:22 or before 20:13, so it is
> obviously dependent on a very precise sun angle to produce this
> reflection. During this time it remained absolutely fixed
> in the stationary telescope, proving that the object is in or
> near geosynchronous orbit.
Then it can't be approximately five degrees east of comet Hale-Bopp,
which isn't geosynchronous.
Allen Thomson
Um, perhaps better to calculate the situation before issuing
pronouncements.
H-B is far away and not moving that much on the sky from night to
night. (Perhaps someone could tell us by how much.) The putative
geosynchronous flasher changes its sun-it-earth angle by a degree a day,
so it isn't immediately obvious that a fortuitous combination of motions
couldn't produce the observations reported.
And if it isn't a ~geosyhchronous satellite, what are the other
candidates?
Darren Garrison
thom...@netcom.com (Allen Thomson) wrote:
I believe that the point was, Hale-Bopp isn't geosynchronous. To do
so, it would have to be "over" the same area of Earth at all times,
and HB isn't.
Robert Sheaffer
In article <3245f218...@news.cris.com>,
Darren Garrison <Dar...@cris.com> wrote:
>>
>> And if it isn't a ~geosyhchronous satellite, what are the other
>>candidates?
>
>I believe that the point was, Hale-Bopp isn't geosynchronous. To do
>so, it would have to be "over" the same area of Earth at all times,
>and HB isn't.
Of course not. But the object is only seen to flash for about 10-15
minutes a night. It was there again tonight, from about 20:13 to
20:24 PDT. I had it stationary in a high-powered eyepiece for
10 minutes - it IS stationary.
Allen Thomson
In article <3245f218...@news.cris.com> Dar...@cris.com (Darren Garrison) writes:
[snip]
>
>I believe that the point was, Hale-Bopp isn't geosynchronous. To do
>so, it would have to be "over" the same area of Earth at all times,
>and HB isn't.
No, wrong. The observations as reported require that the putative
geosynchronous satellite and H-B lie close together in the observer's
field of view for a short period at approximately the same sidereal
time on successive nights. The satellite makes one circuit of the sky
per day, and appears to drift past a given distant object at approximately
the same time from one day to the next.
Stan
Robert Sheaffer wrote:
>
>
> Last night was at least the sixth night that a strange, stationary
> flashing object was visible to observers in central California
> approx. five degrees east of Comet Hale-Bopp (which is what led to
> it being noticed). Its period is approx. 11.5 seconds.
I saw this last Saturday, the 15th when I was at the LAAS star party north
of Los Angeles. Some people at the pad behind me were looking for Hale-Bopp
with an 8 inch LX-200. Since they didn't have coordinates, they started out
by having the scope slew to M14. They planned to star hop to the comet from
there. When they got to M14 they were taking some time to look at it when
they noticed something flashing inside the cluster. Watching for a few
minutes showed that the object was appearing to drift eastward, since the
telescope was tracking the stars. Word of this spread, and lots of people
took turns at the eyepiece to look at this. From where we were, it was
pretty dim. The best estimates were mag 10-13 or so.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stan Schwarz | "I just want to live like Yogi Bear
st...@bombay.gps.caltech.edu | He kicks ass on the average bear."
---------------------------------------------------- -Stukas Over Bedrock -----
Andy Domonkos
Stan (st...@bombay.gps.caltech.edu) wrote:
: there. When they got to M14 they were taking some time to look at it when
: they noticed something flashing inside the cluster. Watching for a few
: minutes showed that the object was appearing to drift eastward, since the
: telescope was tracking the stars. Word of this spread, and lots of people
: took turns at the eyepiece to look at this. From where we were, it was
: pretty dim. The best estimates were mag 10-13 or so.
Any slight movement would be due to a higly elliptic rather than geosunc
orbit.
Andy
Paul Fournier
Robert Sheaffer wrote:
>
> In article <3245f218...@news.cris.com>,
> Darren Garrison <Dar...@cris.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> And if it isn't a ~geosyhchronous satellite, what are the other
> >>candidates?
> >
>
>
> Visit my new Home Page - http://www.debunker.com/~sheaffer
.. I wonder if what you are seeing isn't our long lost satellite,
Hermes, which we knew as the Canadian CTS (Communications Technology
Satellite). We lost it while attempting a maneuvre somewhere near Pago
Pago. I know the man who sent the commands, or at least approved the
computer's commands to the satellite, and he still doesn't want to
discuss the matter.
This satellite has a 60 foot solar array and is in a flat spin. We saw
it from a big Nunn-Baker camera in Hawaii. I don't recall the period of
spin it was left with, but that hardly matters, given the effects of
gravity, the solar wind and the occasional angel zipping past.
Give it my regards when you look up tonight.
cordially,
Paul Fournier
Lew Kurtz
In article <sheafferD...@netcom.com>, shea...@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer) writes:
>
> Last night was at least the sixth night that a strange, stationary
>flashing object was visible to observers in central California
>approx. five degrees east of Comet Hale-Bopp (which is what led to
>it being noticed)
Zetan mother ship?
;-)