I observed a nice -1.5 pass of Mir tonight (0248 UT 24 Jul), and for the first time saw it flare distinctly (to a little brighter than -2.0). However, my brother 40 miles to the south saw the same flare, but it was -6 mag from his site! He's never seen it flare that brightly, and said it was very similar to an Iridium flare. The flare lasted 2 or 3 seconds. He was wondering which panel might be responsible--perhaps a newer surface? Resurs 1-4 (98 043A) was 6.0 mag and steady. TMSAT (98 043C) was just a little over a degree to the east on a parallel track, mag 8.0. Looked like a fast-moving NOSS cluster with only two sats. Resurs 1-4r (98 043G) did not exhibit as pronounced a variation tonight as it had last weekend, and the period is somewhere around 8 seconds, but less distinct now, and it never faded to complete invisibility in 10x50s as it had previously. It is still steady until after culmination on a northbound pass. Fog shut me down around 11 p.m. tonight, but I got some good observing in. Eric Vondra Wampum, PA, USA 40.8538N 80.3292W 200m