Jay wrote: ... > how to observe them. The only thing I would add is that there are a few sync > sats that occasionally flash bright enough to be seen in binoculars. Obviously, > those are easier to see than the faint ones that need a scope. > Depending on the orientation of the observer-satellite-Sun lines and the spin axis, they may flash brightly over a short or long interval/area. Thanks to visibility notes posted on this list, I was able to find Gorizont 23 as my first geosynch (in 7*50 binoculars and a light blue nordic sky). Due to the orientation (??, or the lack of reference stars?) it often took me 4-15 minutes to find the satellite, but then it was easy to see any flash for up to more than an hour. A site with a list of flashing geosyncs (TLEs) was aannounced here a few weeks ago : http://www.adelaide.net.au/~starman (by Tony Beresford) -- b_gimle@algonet.se http://www.algonet.se/~b_gimle -- -- COSPAR 5918, 59.298 N, 18.102 E, 55 m -- -- SeeSat-L / Visual Satellite Observer Home Page found at -- -- http://www.satellite.eu.org/satintro.html --