Re: Flare drought

Quinster7@aol.com
Thu, 19 Feb 1998 21:19:06 EST

In a message dated 98-02-19 19:20:34 EST, you write:

<< Dave Mullenix and Tony Beresford noted the scarcity of bright Iridium
 flares recently from their respective locations.  I, too, have had a lean
 month.  For the entire month of February, if I exclude daytime flares
 and require the sun to be at least 5 degrees below the horizon, I only
 get 5 flares brighter than magnitude 0:  two -1s, a -2, a -3, and a -5.
 It would be interesting to see a global map of all bright flare tracks
 on a month-by-month basis. Perhaps a large fraction of the constellation
 is going through an eclipse season right now...  >>

I have noticed this too - maybe the area on the earth's surface that gets more
flares in a given month migrates around the planet, much like the area where
Mir is visible (or any satellite for that matter).