(meteorobs) Satellite trio

[Bill Smith]

Late Wed night (August 18 my time or the 19th UT)  I observed something
rather strange in orbit.  I now know that these satellites are part of an
experiment by the US Navy.  Here is what I saw and I wonder if anyone else
has seen this - 
 
At 06:25, 19 August 2004, I was observing the sky for left over Persieds.
Out of the North west (285 azimuth)  came three satellites in nearly a
perfect triangle.
The magnitude of each was about 3, and the brightness did not change until
the objects entered the shadow of the Earth nearly overhead at about 
06:33 UT.  The color was somewhat golden and each object was about one
degree apart.  I checked out Heavens Above to see if these were charted and
they were not.
>From the speed and where it entered the shadow, I would guess their altitude
as about 450 miles.  The three objects entered the shadow at the same time
and hence must have been nearly the same altitude.  I read that this is some
experiment the Navy is doing to track ships at sea and not some formation of
alien craft!  LOL! 
 
I wonder how many of you out there have seen this same thing?  This was my
second time.
 
Bill R. Smith
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