In case anyone from Texas and west hasn't seen Superbird A (89-071A, 20040) and might want to try, it's flashing near Theta Ceti, a 3.6 magnitude star at RA 1h 23m 59s, Dec -8.17 (2000) beginning about 3:50 UTC about a degree west of the star. The brightest flashes are brighter than the star but are so quick that they're not easy to see without binoculars. The easiest way to spot it is to use low-power (6x to 10x) binoculars with their good field of view, find the position in the sky, and watch for 25 seconds. At first it flashes every 22.4 seconds, and then in the middle of its event it flashes every 11.2 seconds. Last night I watched it with my 8x42s from outside my apartment from about 3:49 to 3:56 UTC (9:49-56 CST), and it was easy to see for most of that time. If I can rely on the elements for several months, it will be visible from here again around the end of May -- unless it's flashing before the late-spring sky is dark enough. One interesting thing about flashing geosynchs is that they provide a "measure" of the motion of the stars from east to west that is easy to see over a few minutes. By the way, for a few more nights Superbird A may still be visible from east of here on a good night, if you have a low horizon view to the WSW. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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