Some recent observations from Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. Wonderful dark skies but relatively cold. UNIDs were ID'd using the then-current mccants.tle & alldat.tle. 2002-12-30 5:40:49 PST = 2002-12-31 13:40:49 UTC solar panel flare from Iridium 51 ? reached only mag 2 instead of predicted mag -3. I find that solar panel flare predictions from iridflar are usually quite good, and in fact a solar panel flare from Iridium 35 reached the predicted magnitude about 1 minute earlier. 12/30 17:49 PST = 12-31 1:49 UTC saw the object then designated as 27630 Shenzhou 4. Mag 2 as it passed over Orion's bow into eclipse, near predicted mag 2.4. 12/30 18:28 PST = 12-31 2:28 UTC predicted mag 4.7 14402 Cosmos 1503 r. Candidate for a mag -1 flash 10 deg below, 1 deg right of bottom right star of Cassiopeia. However the position was not quite right: this object was about 4 deg further left than the observed flare. Any other candidates? 12/30 18:38 predicted mag 4.7 18749 Cosmos 1908 r passed southbound through square of Pegasus at about mag 2, about 1 min earlier than predicted. A good match except for the time discrepancy. Mark ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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