On Fri, 26 Jul 2002 22:07:29 CDT Linda <jramsey@muhlon.com> wrote: > Listmates, > I've been observing sats, flares, and the ISS. Hopefully, the following > descriptions are more accurate and helpful. > > According to H-A, there were no Iridium Flares at my locartion scheduled > for p.m. tonight -- only for tomorrow a.m. However, I saw a nice flare > near Lyra. The descriptive data follows: > > Unknown Flare 20:57:43 CDT (-5 GMT) > alt. 58 degrees az. 93 degrees > Mag. -2.5 (3x Vega in Lyra) > ... some stuff deleted ... > > It was a nice night for viewing. > Linda R. 37.20, -87.17:. As Tony Beresford noted earlier, there are no obvious matches. Running [Rob Matson's] Skymap using all the elements at my disposal, the closest objects to the reported altaz, assuming the reported time is exact, were: 26973 (01-050D), a Molniya rocket at altaz 57.1/091.2 moving very slowly to the lower right. This was almost 15,800 miles away and is most unlikely to produce negative magnitude flashes. 02877 (67-065C), a Thor Burner rocket at altaz 51.8/106.6 moving to the upper left. This was some 2,740 miles away and besides being several degrees from the reported flare position, is also unlikely to produce such bright flares [corrections by experienced observers are most welcome and desired here!] 25904 (94-016D), a piece of debris from the GPS 2-24 launch. This was at altaz 58.04/104.2, moving to the lower left. At a range of 5,281 miles, it too is probably incapable of such bright flares. [The term "debris" usually, but not always, implies a small, faint object.] Note that for this object, the fact that the orbital elements are almost two weeks old implies an uncertainty of any predictions of its position by several minutes of time. So, alas, I have to concur with Tony that there seem to be no good candidates for your flares among those satellites whose orbital elements are unclassified. General comment: it would help narrow down such searches if you could indicate the approximate uncertainty in the reported positions and times, as well as the apparent direction of travel. Clear and dark skies! Ed Light Lakewood, NJ, USA N 40.1075, W 074.2312 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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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