On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 23:45:11 -0700 (PDT), Michael Wallis
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Not as off topic as all that -- looks to me like a very high likelihood
>> that it's a discarded booster stage (which, due to high reflectivity,
>> would be much smaller than an estimate based on assumption that it's
>> darker than the Moon).
>
>Interesting. I wonder if that's the case with 2000PH5 as well, which
>passes at 0.0077 AU on the 25th of this month?
This one I might buy - inclination is only 2 degrees, which is about 1
km/sec delta-v. Its orbit is less eccentric than Earth's, which is
impressive. But the eccentricity is about 0.23 - takes few km/sec to
get that high.
Also, the absolute magnitude (V(1,0)) is 22.35. That's pretty bright.
Bring something that bright to LEO, and it would shine at magnitude
-3.15. Brighter than everything in the sky except the Sun, the Moon,
and Venus. Brighter than ISS. Far brighter than any booster we could
send into interplanetary space.
It's a rock. It's an interesting rock - perfect for a rendezvous
mission pumped by a few gravity assists - but a rock.
-R
--
"Sutton is the beginning of wisdom -
but only the beginning."
-- Jeff Greason
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