The orbital period is very exactly 12 hours and the ground track does not change from one orbit to the next. So the Russians kept the west of the United States well under control. The satellite was moving quite slowly because during the 11,2 sec downloading time between the first and the second CCD image it traveled about 100 arcseconds. The flashes have a period of 3,0 sec and they shine between 15 and 16 mag. The satellite was moving from South to North.
North is up, East is right.
Mr. Bruno Tilgner contributed greatly in the identification of the object. He gave also all the informations about it. It may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owner. Permission is granted for non-commercial and educational purposes only. Any reference must indicate the source and include a link tag to this site.