Obs time 2008-03-28 00:08 Obs posn N37 11 24 W008 36 00 We were trying to get a spectrum of a quasar last night and while waiting for a gap in the clouds we noticed a repetitive bright flash (mag +4) from a position about 2 degrees south of pi Vir (sat at approx 12h01m+04°30'). There was intermittent broken cloud so timing the flash was imprecise but it appeared to be about 8 seconds but could conceivably be a multiple or even a submultiple of that. The flash itself was very brief indeed (flash bulb) consistent with the short period. The flashing continued for 5 minutes or so. During that time, the source seemed to move (apparently) slowly eastwards with respect to the stars in a way consistent with it being a (somewhat inclined) geostationary sat. My TLEs indicate nothing in that position at the time but Gorizont 29 and Gorizont 32 were around 5 degrees to the west of where we were seeing the flash. I have seen other Gorizonts mentioned as flashers but not either of these, I think. None of the Gorizonts listed had such a short period. Are there reports of either of these flashing at such a high rate? Is there anything else east of these two that would match the observation better? Regards Bev ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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