I was helped not to sleep through my alarm by an incredibly coincidentally timed unexpected but appreciated phone call from a distant SeeSat-er -- the phone and the alarm rang at the same time! The weather cooperated fairly well so that I was able to see Discovery and ISS from outside my apartment. I was very gratified when I went outside and could see Mars, but there were some clouds. I then realized that I could see a bright star farther west of Mars, which now looking at charts and so on I think was alpha Andromedae (Sirrah). It seemed that both objects appeared almost simultaneously, but I'm not sure of that. Anyway, I attempted to time their separation twice, first when they passed not too far from that star and farther along as they passed the leaves at the end of a tree branch. I got 28.29 and 28.65 seconds, respectively. They were not as different in magnitude as yesterday morning, but I was able to follow the ISS considerably lower in the sky, between trees, than I was able to see Discovery. It seemed to me that Discovery was similar in brightness to Mars, but obviously a very different color. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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