This was new to me. On the Celestrak site there's now "SOCRATES" -- "Satellite Orbital Conjunction Reports Assessing Threatening Encounters in Space", which provides predicted close encounters. It has the top ten most probable and top ten closest approaches, and is searchable. A close encounter of Iridium 17 and Iridium 45 made both lists when I looked earlier this morning. Here's the link: http://celestrak.com/SOCRATES/ Finally there was a pass here of Suitsat (05-034C, 28933) that was not clouded out. It was a good pass, but I don't think it got bright enough to see without binoculars -- although it was still astronomical twilight. Whatever variation there was was not easy to detect. This morning Iridium 911 (97-030G, 24842) did a long series (at least 15 or 16 maxima in a row), with the brightest being probably zero mag. I didn't have my stopwatch (!). The flash period was roughly 5 or 6 seconds. Maybe up to a minute before it started the long series, it did a couple of isolated bright flashes. I've acquired a Celestron Skymaster 12x60 binocular -- inexpensive but definitely usable, and I can use it handheld. The immediate motivation was to increase my chances of seeing Comet 73P Schwassmann- Wachmann 3 (fragment C at least), with binoculars (no luck yet on two attempts from within the city). But it will also serve for some fainter satellites. The field of view is 5.7 degrees, not bad for the magnification; weight is 44 ounces, not too good for hanging around the neck on a strap. Quite a few people like the 15x70 model, but the FOV is 4.4 degrees, and in comparing the two models in the store I ruled this heavier, shakier one out. Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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