Tumbling bright satellite: possibly Zi Yuan 2 or Cosmos 1689 Rocket

3 views
Skip to first unread message

Alexander Avtanski

unread,
Aug 12, 2007, 6:26:49 AM8/12/07
to
Hello,

Does somebody know if Zi Yuan 2 or Cosmos 1689 Rocket is tumbling?
Period about 6 sec (+/- 2 sec), very pronounced sequence of one bright
peak and one less bright peak. Something like this?

I'm asking because today we saw an unusually bright tumbling satellite
and heavens-above.com shows two very similar passes by Zi Yuan 2 and
the Cosmos rocket. Both fit the trajectory and are within the accuracy
limits of the time we took (we did not have exact time at the moment;
probably +/- 3 minutes). I'd like to see that one again.

Thanks,

- Alex

mol...@hotmail.com

unread,
Aug 12, 2007, 7:53:25 AM8/12/07
to
On Aug 12, 6:26 am, Alexander Avtanski <avtan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Does somebody know if Zi Yuan 2 or Cosmos 1689 Rocket is tumbling?
> Period about 6 sec (+/- 2 sec), very pronounced sequence of one bright
> peak and one less bright peak. Something like this?

I have reviewed many observations of Cosmos 1689 r (85090B / 16111),
as far back as 1990, almost all of which report steady brightness.
There was one report, in spring of 2007, of a 60 s variation, much
slower than your observation.

I found only a few observations of Zi Yuan 2 (03049A / 28057), made in
2004-05, which reported steady brightness.

Since 03049A has seldom been observed, and not recently, it is more
likely to be an undiscovered flasher than 85090B. It is a fairly young
spacecraft, but it could have failed prematurely. I have not attempted
to find out its health, so that is only speculation.

Please let us know the results of any further observations you may
make of 03049A.

Ted Molczan

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages