TiPS, and non-obs of Iridium 11 penumbral flare

From: Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Sun Jan 21 2001 - 23:16:07 PST

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    The night is beautiful, and earlier Mike McCants got TiPS 
    (23937, 96-029F) in his telescope on a pretty good pass, 
    and it was the best look I've seen of that object in many 
    months if not a year or two!  It was a very good phase 
    angle and might have been bright enough to see in my 
    10x50 binocs (on this clear, moonless night), but I 
    appreciated Mike letting me get a good look at it in the 
    scope.  One interesting thing was that while Mike looked 
    through his 12x80 finder scope he said that it was growing 
    fainter; through the 8-inch scope I could see that it was 
    getting shorter!  As it moved on to the east its angle 
    changed so that its apparent length diminished in a 
    noticeable way in just a minute or so.
    
    I had an Iridflar prediction for a +1 *penumbral* flare 
    from Iridium 11 (the *new* #11, 25577/98-074A, I'm sure), 
    but I did not see anything.  However, it was a one-power 
    obs., and also there was a chance that it was too near 
    the big radio tower on the site, especially if it was 
    significantly fainter than predicted.  The radio tower is
    not a big problem, but it can get in the way at times. 
    The elements for the prediction were only a couple of days 
    old.
    
    Site:  30.314N, 97.866W, 280m.
    
    Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA
    
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