Re: Hunt for unique Iridium flare

From: Bjorn Gimle \(TietoEnator\) (bjorn.gimle@tietotech.se)
Date: Thu May 30 2002 - 10:22:21 EDT

  • Next message: Willie Koorts: "Re: Hunt for unique Iridium flare"

    I don't have an answer to your question of ground plot, just like to
    point out that SkyMap (Rob's) can search for appulses to stars
    on the AllSats/Transit menu.
    
    You can set a distance up to 5 degrees, and a search of 999 hours.
    Using the iridiums.tle file, you will get transits from non-flaring planes
    also, but you can edit a special file with only those that have RAAN
    similar to the flaring ones.
    
    Use the cursor to read the altitude (and/or azimuth) error of prediction.
    
    If the track is not nearly vertical, you can use the output from IridFlar
    in 3-point mode with a small max.angle to make predictions along
    the centerline, otherwise pick points to the E or W.
    
    With two points predicted, you see the effect on alt (or az) distance
    from the star, and can compute the proper travel distance.
    Then run a check!
     
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    > time for something more difficult!  There's a series of flares in Ursa
    > Major near (or between) Alcor and Mizar observed in central Russia these
    > days.  Two stars are 12 arcminutes (0.2 degree) apart, so the pass can
    > only be visible from a very narrow band on Earth.  Rough calculations
    > show it should be a few (appr. two or three) kilometers wide (780km/57/5
    ,,,
    > 
    > The question is: can anybody plot the path of visibility of this rare
    > events or generate the table with the longitudes and latitudes of
    > southern and northern limits?  Is there a software for predicting
    > visibility maps of Lunar transits also available?
    > 
    
    
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