On the 10th of January I have observed a bright flare from the GOCE (09-013A) satellite. The flare was very short, red like Aldebaran, and at its maximum, I am quite sure, even brighter than the star. I would estimate the magnitude to about 0.5 or even 0. The flare occurred at 16:52:31 ± 0.5 s (UTC) on 10/01/2010. By using a Vertical-Along Track coordinate system, the flaring surface orientation should be defined by: Angle: 93.4° +- 0.3° Tilt: 22.6° These angles are consistent with those already obtained by Marco Langbroek. If these results are correct, they may indicate that the satellite is actually stabilized about 3.5 degrees off the orbit plane and toward the sun direction. I have created a workspace for predicting future GOCE flares. The file along with a few more details can be found at the following link: http://digilander.libero.it/SATrack/goce.html Best Regards, Simone ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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