Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!gatech!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!snowdog
From: snowdog@athena.mit.edu (Richard the Nerd)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Atlantis sighting; elements
Message-ID: <8299@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: 4 Dec 88 00:45:14 GMT
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: snowdog@athena.mit.edu (Richard the Nerd)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 29




I saw Atlantis make a pass over here at Cambridge at 17:12 EST.  The
payload satellite was about 3 seconds directly ahead of Atlantis,
flying in formation.  (This puts it about 20 km ahead in real space.)
It was about 1 - 2 magnitudes fainter and distinctly red in color
(gold foil?).  Very interesting.

The elements I posted earlier on today predicted a pass 7 minutes and
50 seconds later.  Here are some improved elements:

Object:       STS-27
Epoch:        88337.66528
ndot/2:       0.0001 
n2dot/6:      0.0
bstar:        0.3e-3
Inclination:  57.0 deg
RA of node:   189.1 deg
Eccentricity: 0.0
Arg. Perigee: 0.0
Mean Anomaly: 0.0
Mean Motion:  15.3817
Rev:          1

These should be very close, within a few seconds for tonight, and maybe
a few minutes tomorrow.

-Rich