Hi all - I've also seen Vanguard 1 - it was one of the objects that got me hooked on Seesat! Someone posted it's elements, and I'd just got a copy of Quicksat, so I gave it a try with a 12.5-inch reflector. That was in 1995, and I've seen this orbiting antique 6 times now. The little satellite is essentially a polished sphere with some very small flat surfaces (solar panels and/or instruments). The reflection off the sphere seems to be magnitude 14 or fainter on most passes, making it very hard to see. You need to be lucky and catch a reflection off one of the small flat surfaces. The times I've seen Vanguar 1, these flashes have been in the magnitude 10 to 12 range, and last a second or two as the object zips through the field of view. About half of the times I look for this object, there are no flashes within the field of view, and I see nothing. So, if you want to see Vanguard 1, get a decent size scope, and keep trying. Vanguard 1's indentical twin is perhaps easier to see, on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Washington DC. It is the object that sat atop the launch rocket that lifted a few feet off the pad before exploding, and does show some damage. Here's a couple of web sites about Vanguard 1, neither of which I have personally checked out: http://home5.swipnet.se/~w-52936/index20.htm http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/TOC.html cheers, Rich Keen, Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado (2.7 km closer to Vanguard 1)