* Originally In: FIDO Astronimy
* Original To : Veikko Makela, 2:220/861
* Original From: UUCP, 2:220/861
* Original Date: Nov 11 10:24


Date: 10 Nov 93 20:32 GMT
From: DK0179@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Amtsgymnasiet,Sonderborg,DK,AGE)
Subject: Important request

ATTENTION, PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EUROPEAN AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS...

A VERY BRIGHT OBJECT WAS OBSERVED RECENTLY ON THE NIGHT SKY BY A LARGE NUMBER OF OBSERVERS , PLACED ON THE DANISH NORTH SEA OIL FIELDS.

THIS NIGHT, OCT. 20, EARLY MORNING HOURS, HAD A QUITE CLEAR SKY, FROST CONDITIONS. SOME AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS MIGHT HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE, PHOTOGRAPHING THE ORIONIDS, WHICH WHERE QUITE BEAUTIFUL, AND IN MAXIMUM , ON THAT TIME.

ERIK HOEG, WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE ANY OBSERVATIONS, PHOTOS, ETC. OF THIS UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEARLY VISIBLE FROM MOST OF NORTHERN EUROPE.

MOGENS WINTHER, ASTRO BBS, + 45 74 426307

REPLIES TO ERIK HOEG, ADRESS BELOW..
OR APPLE LINK, DK0179.
-------------
Sub:

A mysterious -9 mag object
==========================

The object `Tygorm'
------------------
An object near zenith was discovered and observed by the weatherman A
on the Danish oil rig Tyra-East in the North Sea at position
55 deg 43.5 m north, 04 deg 48.2 m east. The observation was taken
between 3:50 and 5:15 UTC on 20 Oct 1993 and was reported to the
present author from 7:00 UTC the same morning and in several phone conversations since then. Its integrated brightness was about -9 mag.

I would be grateful for your assistance.
It should have been seen from elsewhere since the night was quite
clear and observers within a radius of 1000 km would have seen an
object brighter than -6 mag at a zenithdistance of less than 60
degrees.

Observations
------------
The object was watched by observer A for 85 minutes, interrupted
then by clouds. He saw a diffuse circular orange
disk of the moon's diameter without structure, but he was much
disturbed by background light from a big gas flame on the rig.
He saw no change of brightness or appearance during that time.

The ship Preventer 500 m
south of Tyra was called by radio and the object was observed by
officer B for about 60 minutes. He could see much structure which
did not change during the time. It looked like a drop pushing a bow
wave in front of its but end. A drawing will be provided to me.
Both observers used naked eye and good binoculars. By binoculars A and
B report to seeing a granular surface, a large number of small points
inside the object.

The object stayed at nearly constant distance to Capella which was seen
at 10 degrees to WSW at 3:50 UT and at about 7 degrees at 5:15, the
times of first and last sighting. This indicates a westward motion
among the stars of 3 degrees in 85 minutes, although this figure is
uncertain and could be zero. The first position is RA, Dec 1950 =
6h 10m, +50.0 deg.

The constant appearance and the celestial motion indicated an
astronomical object, perhaps a comet. But a report to B. Marsden on the
same morning did not bring any further observation, and it was
concluded that the object must be local. This hypothesis has however
led to no acceptable explanation of the phenomenon.

The object was also observed by two persons, C and D, on the oil rig
Gorm, 18 km south of Tyra who had overheard the radio conversation
between A and B. They saw two orange drops close together, near zenith,
both drops being about one square degree. From their
drawings and from phone conversations the declination 48.0 deg and
the same RA as above were derived. This corresponds to a parallax
of -2 degrees. Permitting very generously a total error of 5 degrees,
the maximum parallax is -2+5=3 deg, and the minimum altitude therefore
340 km above sea level.

The surface brightness was estimated by a simple visual photometer to
one percent of of the moon. The photometry was obtained by A five
days later on my proposal by watching the first quarter moon through
the two acryl plates of an empty tape cassette. He estimated that
the object was considerable brighter than the twice reflected
image of the moon. Since this image has a surface brightness
about 0.3 percent of the moon, the object has had a surface brightness
about one percent of the moon. Since the integrated brightness of
the full moon is -13 mag and the total area of the object
was at least one square degree as seen by the other observers a
total integrated brightness about -9 mag is inferred.

No explanation found
--------------------
Explanations in terms of noctilucent clouds, chemical experimental
clouds or space craft exhaust are not consistent with the long duration
of constant appearance and the nearly constant position relative to the
stars. Aurora seems to be excluded for the same reason and because
their was no special event on 20 October. P. Suesmann, Deutsche Telekom, reports: The sun was quiet with no flares or other events,
the geomagnetic field was unsettled and from the view of HF
propagation there was nothing extraordinary as well.

Sincerely yours Erik Hoeg

Copenhagen University Observatory
Oestervoldgade 3, DK 1350 Copenhagen K
erik@astro.ku.dk Telex: 44155 danast
Phone: +45 35 323999 FAX +45 35 323989 to Observatory
Phone: +45 35 323975 directly to Hoeg
--------------------- End of message -----------------------------


Eddie,
telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23
http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080
---
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