1. This is to report sightings of what I call "Iridium Pairs" ie an Iridium flare followed/preceded by another flare which does *not* originate from the same Iridium satellite and which is *not* foreseen in the heavens-above ephemerides. a. I took a picture of Ir82 (a spare according to vsohp) from HNiv (*): 02.06.00 @ 03:54 local time, RA 14h49m, DEC +48°, -5 mag. Then, about 1 minute later, a fainter object followed on nearly the same path, namely RA 14h52m, Dec +52°, 0 mag. b. I observed visually Ir74 from HNiv, followed by another bright flare: 26.08.00 @ 21:50:23, Alt 23°, Az 353°, -6 mag, and 26.08.00 @ 21:52:10, Alt 38°, Az 357°, -6 mag, respectively. Both objects were moving in the same direction. > My questions: What causes such extra flares? (Perhaps "lost" Iridium's since I understand that "nominal" Ir's with same RAAN and different slot positions are rather widely spaced apart). Are such events frequent? predictable? worth a report? 2. Since I am a new subscriber I wish to introduce the EurAstro Association. In 1991, I created the EPO Astro Club in Munich (EPO is for European Patent Office since most of us are EPO civil servants). Now there is a branch in the EPO in The Hague (Amicale Astronomy Club) and an informal association (EurAstro) comprising all Astro members as well as relatives and friends, total membership is 145. We specialise in solar eclipse chasing; we search for/observe asteroids and supernovae (4 discoveries up to now). Occasionally, we organise satellite/star parties from Npl, Isar or Psch (*). > My question: We observe satellites just for fun (using binoculars and photo/video cameras), is there a need for more systematic observations from the following sites? (*) HNiv: 50.4937°N, 5.9101°E, 407 m. My house in Belgium near Spa. Npl: 48.0961°N, 11.6508°E, 555 m. My flat in Munich. Isar: 48.1306°N, 11.5803°E, 570 m. Top of EPO Headquarters building. Psch: 48.1397°N, 11.5489°E, 545 m. Entrance of EPO Bayerstrasse. Regards, Jean-Luc DIGHAYE (jdighaye@epo.org). ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 : Thu Aug 31 2000 - 01:40:24 PDT