steves@ncr-sd.UUCP (Steve Schlesinger) (03/21/86)
I had a nice view of Halley at about 4:20 PST from about 35 miles N of San Diego, CA. Tail clearly visible thru 7x50's. The sky was not as black as it was when I saw it in November (was this too early for pre-dawn twilight?) While I was looking at Halley I saw an object move by the general vicinity from south to east. It was moving at a steady, relatively slow rate. It might have been a plane, but I don't think so since it appeared to be much higher than planes go (also there was only a single light). It wasn't a falling star since it was too slow and persosted for some time. I'm not experienced at estimating magnitudes, but if Halley was a 4 I'd guess this thing wasn't higher than a 6. Does anyone know if this was satellite? If so which one. Steve Schlesinger (ihnp4, ucbvax!sdcsvax)!ncr-sd!steves
rlw@purdue.UUCP (Richard L Watterson) (03/25/86)
I saw an object similar to the one Steve described on the morning of March 21 as I was looking for Halley's comet. It appeared at approximately 4:20 a.m. EST. I was able to follow it with my telescope for about 15 - 20 seconds. I also saw Halley's comet that morning, about 20 minutes later just after the moon went down. I didn't see much of a tail , however the nucleus and the coma were well defined and bright. Richard Watterson rlw@purdue