Iridium Flare Geometry

Mir16609@aol.com
Mon, 2 Feb 1998 20:15:00 EST

I have beern reluctant to inform some of my coworkers about upcoming Iridium
flares because of the localized nature of the reflected light.  Today I ran
Iridflare for my location and for a friend at work (39.917N,  76.755W  34mASL)
who lives about 35 miles (~55km) north of where I live.  

The predictions for a Wednesday evening Iridium 12 flare were bright for both
of our locations:

                     Iridium           Sun       Flare      Maximum Flare   Ir
  Date     Time    Azm El Rnge  N I  Azm Elv   Ang Mg MMA  Latit.  Longit.   #
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(My Location)
98- 2- 4 19:24:53  026 37 1189  A L  267 -21   0.4 -3  L   39.2300 -76.712  12
(Friend's Location)
98- 2- 4 19:25:07  025 37 1190  A L  267 -21   0.1 -8  L   39.9313 -76.716  12

The time is EST (~98-2-5;  00:25 UT)

Iridium 12       3.0  0.0  0.0  6.0 d            781 x 774
1 24837U 97030B   98029.17108317 -.00000044 +00000-0 -22945-4 0 01537
2 24837 086.3983 068.2169 0004750 109.3689 250.8020 14.34216179032300

Has anyone taken a look at the geometry of these flares?   This one would
appear to be like a line of light traveling under Iridium 12.   Any comments?

Thanks.
Don Gardner
Homepage: http://members.aol.com/mir16609/
76.8419 W, 39.1796 N,  34m ASL