(meteorobs) UARS Sat re-entry

[Bruce McCurdy]

I was out observing for the UARS on Friday night from the observatory at
Telus World of Science Edmonton (~ 53.5 °  N, 113.5 ° W). That is about 300
km north of Okotoks, AB; the entire province is in Mountain Daylight Time,
or UTC minus 6 hours. For us in Edmonton the scheduled passes were at 22:22
MDT at about 20 degrees altitude in the south, then 23:52 and 01:22 at
similar altitudes in the north (near the northern extent of UARS orbit, with
its 57 ° inclination). There were a good number of public and a half dozen
or more experienced astronomers present for the first pass, and three
veteran astronomers for the last two. 

The key pass would seem to be the first one at 22:22 - NOT 21:15 but fully
an hour later. That time simply does not match up with the report from
"Madman".  

We saw nothing* at any of the three times. We looked for several minutes
before and after the nominal pass times due to the unknown effects of the
decaying nature of the orbit, and if anything would have expected to see
something at lower altitudes than those projected. 

(*Two of our group saw an unusual meteor low in the south about 10 minutes
ahead of the pass, but its direction was not consistent with satellite
debris.)

I heard of a report from Alan Dyer who lives near Okotoks that he too was
observing under good conditions and saw nothing. While I haven't
communicated with him directly, Alan is a friend of mine of long standing
and I know him to be an extremely experienced and conscientious observer. I
will take his observation over that of any "Madman" 10 days out of 10. 

I can follow up with Alan Dyer if that would help. I also have connections
with hockey forums (though not that one) and could possibly track down
"Madman".

Bruce
*****



-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of MexicoDoug
Sent: September-25-11 10:13 PM
To: meteorobs at meteorobs.org; epmajden at shaw.ca
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) UARS Sat re-entry

Hi Ed, all,

Yes - Too bad for the apparently false alarm pranksters, the amount of folks
nowadays with information that previously was available to only the select
diehards is now so well distributed that this is the way things are headed -
"el mitote".

If a kind Canadian can check this out by contacting "Madman" in this Local
Calgary Hockey forum, it's the first mention online of any observations in
that area I saw at the time (Friday night), and additionally it mentions an
observation from Okotoks by name ... and it might have been before the Tweet
that apparently started this all off;
#86 in their thread and is apparently from a local at the site.

Text from the post with date stamp:

"09-23-2011, 09:21 PM    #86
Madman
So I just saw very fast moving major blue streak east of Okotoks at 9:15. It
wasn't like any type of shooting star I've ever seen. "

Ref:
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?p=3293019

I wonder if it was a hoax by intention or if it just a big "mitote" 
(sorry I don't know the English word - but it's sort of things that become
alive because of miscommunications within large groups)

The crater business was apparently started by a bunch of Australians while
Canada was asleep...

Kindest wishes
Doug


-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Majden <epmajden at shaw.ca>
To: Meteor science and meteor observing <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Sun, Sep 25, 2011 10:54 pm
Subject: (meteorobs) UARS Sat re-entry


	We have no reports from the B.C. and Alberta All-sky  Networks
recording anything from this event.  Much of B.C. was overcast but Dr.
Alan Hildebrand said skies were clear over Alberta.  Looks like the reports
of something falling south of Calgary was a hoax.  To bad people make such
reports as it just confuses the issue.

Ed Majden
EMO Sandia All-sky Station
Courtenay, B.C.
CANADA
_______________________________________________
meteorobs mailing list
meteorobs at meteorobs.org
http://lists.meteorobs.org/mailman/listinfo/meteorobs

_______________________________________________
meteorobs mailing list
meteorobs at meteorobs.org
http://lists.meteorobs.org/mailman/listinfo/meteorobs