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To: V K Lee
We went camping near Flagstaff last week and took advantage of the beautiful skies to watch the Perseids. We saw a few, but we had to retire early because a skunk kept coming into the camp.

We also spotted what looked like a satellite passing over us. We have an astronomy app on our phones (Star Walk 2) that actually identifies what space objects you're looking at and we found out this one was a derelict (non-active) experimental space habitat called "Genesis II".

"Genesis II" was launched in 2007. It was unmanned, but it had a monitored "bio-box" that contained a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, a scorpion, and a colony of ants. It was supposed to send data back for 6-months, but it kept sending it for 2 1/2 years. Last September, it had a near-miss with a derelict Russian satellite called Kosmos 1300.

10 posted on 08/22/2020 8:38:26 AM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: fidelis

Whatever the object seen, it certainly resembled a full tick on the screen. Traveled from the top to the bottom of the screen before disappearing. Other, smaller objects seen we took to be satellites. One, in particular, held my attention. It moved like a salmon upstream. Zigzag, jerky motion. To be honest, the object looking like a tick made me think I was playing Space Armada once again. :-)

Yes. It never fails. There is always a skunk lurking about to spoil a good time. Thanks for the app info (Star Walk 2)


11 posted on 08/22/2020 8:52:30 AM PDT by V K Lee ("VICTORY FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS JUDGMENT FOR THE WICKED")
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