Superbird A from Africa/Eur

ROB MATSON (ROBERT.D.MATSON@cpmx.saic.com)
5 Jan 1998 15:53:51 -0800 

Hi all,

Thanks to the 1997/12/29 observation of Superbird A by Kurt Jonckheere
from southern France, I've been able to tweak my model of the rotation
axis to match his observation.  (The axis has precessed by about 6
degrees since the last "fix" on it in early October).  Flashes should
now be visible from all of Africa and Europe, the U.K., middle East,
Scandinavia and western Russia.  Here are the approximate predicted
times (UT) of peak flashing for early morning, Tuesday, January 6th:

2:12  Landfall in southwest Africa: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau,
       Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
2:16  Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin
2:23  European landfall:  southern Portugal and Spain (Gibraltar),
      northern Morocco, central Algeria, Niger, southwest Chad, central
      African Republic, Zaire, eastern Angola, western Botswana, and
      western South Africa (including Cape Town)

(Tracks continue for Africa, but since most potential observers are in
Europe, the rest of this report concentrates there.)

2:26  central Spain
2:29  French Riviera
2:30  central France, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily
2:31  southern Ireland, southwest England, northern France (including
       Paris), Milan, Rome and Messina, Italy
2:32  northern Ireland (including Belfast), Wales, southern England
      (including London), northeast France, Switzerland, entire boot of Italy
2:33  Liverpool, England, Belgium, German/Swiss border, Swiss/Austrian
       border, Venice
2:34  Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Netherlands (incl. Amsterdam), Germany,
       Austria, western Yugoslavia, Albania, western Greece
2:35  Northwest Highlands of Scotland, Netherlands/German border,
      Germany, Austria (including Vienna), central Yugoslavia, Athens,
      Crete
2:37  Iceland, Denmark, Berlin, Czechoslovakia, Hungary (Budapest),
      western Romania, central Bulgaria, western-most Turkey, Cairo
2:38  southern Norway, northernmost Denmark, Copenhagen, Poland,
      Romania, Bulgaria, Istanbul
2:39  southern Norway (incl. Oslo), southern Sweden, Poland (including
      Warsaw), western Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel/Palestine
      (including Jerusalem), Jordan, northwest Saudi Arabia
2:40  Norway, southern Sweden, Poland/Lithuania border, southwest corner
      of Byelorussia, Ukraine, Romania/Muldavia border, Turkey, Lebanon,
      southernmost Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia
2:41  Trondheim/Norway to Stockhold/Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia,
      Ukraine, Odessa, central Turkey, Syria, Eastern Jordan, Saudi Arabia
2:42  Central Norway and Sweden, Riga to Kiev to Crimea, Turkey, Syria,
      western Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
2:45  Finland, Leningrad, Moscow

Good luck all!  --Rob