Orion 3 and ETS 6 one-power flashes

From: Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 06 2001 - 02:02:58 PST

  • Next message: Ed Cannon: "Possible very low passes over USA this week"

    Well, as some in Texas might say, "Yee haw!"  I lucked into 
    seeing bright one-power flashes from two of my favorites.
    
    Orion 3 (25727, 99-024A) -- for the first part of the pass, 
    I didn't see anything, so then I tried unsuccessfully to see 
    Iridium 24 (25105, 97-082B).  Then I did see the predicted
    Iridium 22 flare.  Then I looked again for Orion 3, and sure
    enough it flashed about -1, and there were five more before 
    it went into eclipse, the last couple somewhat fainter than 
    the previous four.  It has accelerated since I last saw it.  
    Observed from Univ. of Texas at Austin campus.
    
    99- 24 A 01-02-06 00:56:41.5 EC   83.2 0.3   4 20.8   mag -1->inv
    
    ETS 6 (Kiku 6, 23230, 94-056A).  This was after I got home, 
    and I almost didn't look for it due to being at least 20 
    minutes late.  But it was a beautiful evening, calm and not 
    too cold, and I recalled that I had seen it flash before 
    in Orion, and this pass was near-perigee to the south of 
    Orion, so I went over to the museum grounds.  Not long 
    after I got situated and looked briefly with binoculars -- 
    flash!  It was about +1.  I saw six one-power flashes and 
    then with binoculars could see secondaries as well.  After 
    a couple of minutes I tried to see Telstar 401 for two or 
    three minutes and then -- flash!  ETS 6 again!  I saw four 
    one-power flashes this time; they were one-half cycle off 
    from the first set.  It also has accelerated since I last 
    saw it.  Observed from around 30.3068N, 97.7267W, 150m 
    (grounds of Elizabet Ney Museum).
    
    94- 56 A 01-02-06 03:36:41.0 EC   98.0 0.3  10  9.80  mag +1->inv
    
    We had a very nice pass of ISS last night.  It might have
    gotten as bright as Jupiter.
    
    Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA
    
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