Re: X-37B flare

From: William Chellis (wmchellis@gmail.com)
Date: Wed Jun 02 2010 - 04:32:23 UTC

  • Next message: Jim Nix: "JN 9633 June 2 obs"

    Tony and all,
    
    Thank you for your note, and your posting.
    In my haste to post something, I didn't post everything.
    
    I observed this flare Saturday night from my backyard in Connecticut.
    Sorry group, I realize now that the HA link I included probably didn't work
    for you.
    
    So here are some of the pass details pulled from HA
    
    *Pass Details*
    Date: Saturday, 29 May, 2010 Satellite: X-37B Observer's Location: Seymour (
    41.3970°N, 73.0760°W) Local Time: Eastern Daylight Time (GMT - 4:00)
    Orbit: 399 x 419 km, 40.0° (Epoch 01 Jun) Sun
    altitude at time of
    maximum pass altitude: -18.9°
    Rises above horizon 22:23:21 0° 261° (W ) 2,349 Reaches 10° altitude
    22:25:27 10° 259° (WSW) 1,492 Maximum altitude 22:28:42 67° 193° (SSW)
    455 Enters
    shadow 22:28:42 67° 193° (SSW) 455
    Adjusting for my time zone, this would have been early Sunday morning
    shortly after 02:25:00.
    I am not well trained in regard to magnitudes, but the flare certainly
    rivaled that of Venus, easily mag -2, perhaps brighter.
    
    I realize this is subjective, but I think it may offer a clue to some aspect
    of the object.
    The color struck me. Very clear, cool blue white. Like the reflection in an
    expensive gemstone.
    Not like the ISS flares I've seen in the past. Those tend to be more ruddy
    or even orange.
    Iridium flares too are more yellow.
    
    Sorry for the poor initial posting.
    
    -Bill Chellis
    -------------- next part --------------
    An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
    URL: http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/private/seesat-l/attachments/20100602/30e880c2/attachment.html 
    _______________________________________________
    Seesat-l mailing list
    http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Jun 02 2010 - 04:33:56 UTC