Part of the charm of observing LEO objects in the west just after sunset is guessing if they will be bright enough to punch through the twilight. I couldn't acquire the ISS until it had reached it's maximum elevation of about 40 deg at 22:45:30 UTC 01 Nov (NW->SE). After that it was blue and +1 mag. The Soyuz passed about 15 minutes later. At about 20 deg max elevation it was more of a binocular object. I acquired it with my 7x50s at 23:00:34 UTC as it was passing over delta-Oph, then eps-Oph. A few seconds later it got brighter but I had nothing to compare it to in my FOV. After it went behind a tree and I tried to recover it at 1x once I repositioned myself - no luck. After rechecking my plot I reacquired it with my 7x50's at 23:02 as it was passing through the Sgr stars under the Moon. I was able to track it for another minute but it was probably no brighter than +5. Cheers, Don Gardner 39.1799 N, 76.8406 W, 100m ASL http://hometown.aol.com/mir16609/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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