Florida Launch Tonight Florida ~7:38 EST 19JAN2012 NOT Meteor!

Report of launch:

19JAN2012 Shane and Rebecca Hayes MELBOURNE BEACH, FLORIDA, USA 20:03:00 18 seconds W-E RED and ORANGE/LOW RUMBLING THUNDER MOON YES we have a picture from a cell phone, it was bright enough at that far distance to be picked up on the cell

Possible artificial nebula tonight
If the 0:38 UTC (7:38 EST) scheduled launch goes off as scheduled or even
somewhat later in the launch window from Cape Canaveral, there's
a very good chance for an artificial nebula or "comet" around 2:00
UTC south of Israel to ENE of South Africa, perhaps directly over
Madagascar. It would be within several degrees of the celestial
equator from an observing site. Sorry I don't have more detailed
information. Here's a page for reference:
http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Jan-2012/0253.html

"WGS 4" is "Wideband Global SATCOM 4", a US military
communications satellite.

Here's a projected ground-track map of the launch events:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d358/track.html

With good weather, it could be worth looking for.
Ed Cannon -- Texas
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WGS 4 is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral in about 8 hours, on 2012 Jan 20, between 00:38 and 02:11 UTC.

I offer the following rough TLE of the orbit after the final burn of the 2nd stage, assuming launch at window-open: 

SECO-2                                                 440 X 66991 km
1 78901U          12020.04833333  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    00
2 78901  24.0048 307.4191 8299446 177.8402   1.4113  1.08160032    02

Following spacecraft separation, observers within range should look for the following 2nd stage events:

    T+       UTC
00:45:00  01:23:00  CCAM Start (Collision and Contamination Avoidance Manoeuvre)
00:47:20  01:25:20  CCAM End
00:54:41  01:32:41  H2 Depletion End
00:56:40  01:34:40  O2 Depletion End
01:18:33  01:56:33  N2H4 depletion End

The fuel dump could produce a spectacular comet-like phenomenon.
Ted Molczan

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