I wrote: > Thursday evening (early April 14 UTC) I had twilight Highfly and > Quicksat predictions for "FREGAT RB/CLUS" (26106, 00-015A) -- > ... it turned out to be quite bright (at least +2, maybe +1).... Saturday evening was a better pass than Thursday's, but I did not see it at all! So I was very curious about the pass last night and was relieved that in spite of twilight and variable thin clouds at least I did find it to be pretty bright in binoculars. But about the time I was trying to see if it was one-power visible, I was interrupted by a police officer or security guard who was curious who I was and what I was doing there.... Those of you who have good sites near home, be grateful! ... At least the fellow seemed satisfied that I was harmless and said it was okay to be there (museum grounds near my apartment) at that time. Last night two Iridium flares occurred pretty much as predicted, including a -2 flare with the Sun only two degrees below horizon (visible at one power, although not very bright of course). Last night Milstar 3 Centaur Rk (25725, 99-23B) was one-power in twilight at a range of about 1,600 km -- near perigee, of course! In spite of the clouds and moonlight I also managed last night to see with binoculars some Superbird A (20040, 89-41A) flashes, one of which was significantly brighter than beta Vir, which the satellite was near at the time. (Weather permitting, after another night or two of moonlight Superbird A viewing should be about ideal for much of the USA.) I missed some due to getting tired of pointing the binoculars up there for that long! The last three nights' passes of MOS 1-A (17527, 87-18A) have included some very bright flashes, Saturday and Sunday night (local time) at least +0. Also the last few nights I've seen good old Compton GRO (21225, 91-27B), a sentimental favorite. It was one of the very first ones that I saw when I first got into satellite observing in March 1996. I've tried unsuccessfully at least three times in the last several nights to see USA 89 Rk (22519, 92-86C). They've all been twilight passes, so I guess it's just been too faint. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 18 2000 - 00:38:34 PDT