Orion's Belt

The image below was a test of a Tokina zoomlens mounted on my ST-8XE CCD camera. It shows a familiar region in the sky with the Horse Head Nebula, Flame Nebula and part of Barnard's Loop.

The streak just below Orion's Belt is a satellite. I was lucky to spot this reflection visually and noted the time. Belgian satellite observer Bram Dorreman could find out what satellite this was:

This object has cat.nr. 04237, international nr 1969-082 E. Theobject moved in a South-Easterly direction. This artificial satellite is a "payload" to experiment with spacetechnology (calibration). The size is not known. 1969-082 E means that this was the 5th object of the 82nd lauch in 1969. Launch vehicle was a Thorad-Agena rocket (the Agena booster is also still in orbit). Launchdate: 1969-09-30.57 fromVandenbergh (California). Orbit parameters on 2003-02-16 orbit in 103.2 min, apogee 925 km, perigee 898 km.

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