Hello to all- I've been an active amateur astronomer for a couple of years and primarily observe with a combination of instruments including binoculars. I live in Staten Island, NY and therefore see many satellites passing overhead on any given night. Last night I saw an unusual satellite which prompted me to do a little research which brought me here. This is what I observed last night. Time: Approximately 10:30 - 11:00pm EST (UT 3:30a - 4:00a?) Date: 3.20.06 EST (3.21.06 UT) Location: 40.58N - 74.16W I was just scanning the skies in and around Gemini with my 15x70 binoculars when I came across a bright flash of light. I lingered in the area and saw another flash a few seconds later. I had the natural, “what the heck is that?” reaction and kept the binocs locked on the tripod. Yet each time I looked at the flash it had moved a tiny bit to the east. It was moving so predictably I could predict where the next flash would occur. I then timed the flashes to be almost exactly 5 seconds apart. I tracked this for about 20 minutes as it moved very slowly to the east, crossing between Pollux and Saturn. It would take about 3 minutes to cross one binocular field (~4 degrees). The really interesting part was that the flashes were different. The first flash would be a sharp, bright red/yellow one. 5 seconds later there would be a more diffuse, slightly softer bluish flash. 5 seconds after that, there would be a dim white flash and then nothing for 10 seconds. The pattern repeated itself but at times the flashes grew very dim. The brightest flashes were at about mag 5 or 6. Whatever it was was seemingly moving very, VERY slowly as compared to most satellites or it was in a VERY high orbit. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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