Triple Play

Mike DiMuzio (mdimuzio@cisnet.com)
Sat, 24 Apr 1999 22:00:19 +0000

	I discovered late this afternoon that I was going to
have a triple play this evening: three naked eye sats within a few minutes
of each other.

	ISS started the show with a ten minute pass, almost from horizon-to-
horizon.  I must admit it was one of the fainter passes I've seen.  It
struggled to reach first magnitude as it was passing below the Big Dipper.

	While ISS was still visible low in the northeast, Iridium 23 made a 
nice flare over my house.  It's peak was about half the brightness of Venus,
or about -3.3 to -3.4, much brighter than it's predicted magnitude from Iridflar
of -1.1.

	The final member of the trio was appropriately named SeaSat 1, making an
84 degree high pass high in the east northeast.  It too, was a pleasant
surprise,
exceeding ISS in brightness, reaching 0 to -0.5 before fading out in the
northwest.

All in all, a satisfying triple play.  Too bad I ran out of film.

Mike
-- 
41.087N  80.714W 305 meters

Mike DiMuzio    mdimuzio@cisnet.com