On Thu, 8 Aug 1996, Bjoern Gimle wrote: > Yesterday 960807 at 21:20 UT I happened to see a very bright > satellite at about 40 degrees elevation in the southeast, > from Delphinus to Pegasus. A search with SkyMap revealed no > candidate brighter than magnitude 5, but after computing an orbit, > and before reporting an unknown, I made another search with mag<6.0. > > To match this observation, quicksat.mag should have 1.6, > satmag.dat 2.5 as standard magnitudes ! > > The satellite was steady, except for effect of phase and range. I saw this 9/91, east, elev 47 deg. Mag 4 . The next day in the west, el 27 deg, I found it in binoculars at mag 3.8 for several sec. Then in faded to mag 6-6 1/2. So, while not flashing, it does seem to get much brighter than expected for some extended periods. Jay Respler -- Join us at Eurosom 2, the Satellite Observers Meeting: Oct.19/20, Belgium http://www.rzg.mpg.de/~bdp/eurosom.html -- Details of how to get on the Satellite Observer Mail List, satellite elements, prediction programs and other satellite information, at the Visual Satellite Observers Home Page: http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/sat/satintro.html -- JRespler@InJersey.com or Jay.Respler@bytewise.org Satellite Tracker * Early Typewriter Collector Freehold, New Jersey