(meteorobs) Help with possible asteroid?????????

[karl.antier at laposte.net]

Dear Roberto and all,

The unidentified object was recorded with a allsky camera, and lasted 12 minutes, bith flares as bright as the Moon.
This is why the persons recording the object thought at first that it could be a small asteroid passing very close to the Earth without entering the atmosphere, but so close that it became easily visible. It was too slow to be a meteor or satellite atmosphere reentry, and it did not fit any known satellite...

But from the last analysis made, it seems it was a satellite, in the end.

Here is the last message on the topic, by Rob Matson (on MPmL):
"Hi Thomas,
Well, it's definitely a satellite. But I agree with Ted that it is not in the unclassified
database. (I have not checked using Mike McCants' database.) If you analyze the
flash timings, there are actually secondary flashes phased 1/4 rotation prior to the
main flashes. This is not uncommon for rotating satellites with box-like shapes.
If I had a good calibration file for NMSU-1, I could convert the raw pixel coordinates
into az/el and compute a pretty good orbit. It's a fairly inclined orbit, but less than
70 degrees. Just based on the transit time, it's not a low-altitude LEO. I estimate
the altitude is over 1000 km.  --Rob" 

So it seems the mystery is solved!

Clea skies to all!
Karl


----- Mail original -----
De: "Roberto Gorelli" <md6648 at mclink.it>
À: "Meteor science and meteor observing" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>, "karl antier" <karl.antier at laposte.net>
Cc: "drygulch 99" <drygulch_99 at yahoo.com>
Envoyé: Lundi 4 Juillet 2016 22:04:38
Objet: Re: (meteorobs) Help with possible asteroid?????????

On Mon, 4 Jul 2016 16:29:06 +0200 (CEST)
  karl.antier at laposte.net wrote:
> Hi all, 
> 
> I guess this could be of interest for us, as it potentially requires 
>allsky records. 
> Message, sent to Minor Planet Mailing List by Thomas Dorman, is 
>dealing with a long lasting and bright flashing unidentified object 
>observed above New Mexico and Texas. 
> Has anyone some recordings taken near those positions at those dates 
>(July 3rd, 2016, between 04h20 and 04h31 UT)? 
> 
> I copy Thomas, in case he is not a list subscriber. 
> And here is his e-mail on MPML (my e-mail is rejected by 
>spam-filter, otherwise, if I forward his e-mail) : 
>https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mpml/conversations/topics/32107?reverse=1 
> 
> Clear skies to all! 
> Karl 

Probably I not understand exactly the topic: in the past years two 
bodies discovered as asteroids fell on the Earth as meteorites, do
it can occured the same now? A flashing object sound strange: a 
rotating satellite? A Rentry of satellites? What other?
In  http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/NEO/toconfirm_tabular.html
there are many objects that  stand by for confirmation but nobody of 
they can to be see with naked eyes flashing.
I think that more probably it's a manmade object.
Best greetings.
Roberto Gorelli