Dear List, At long last, on Nov. 1, 2000, I was able to get off a few more photgraphic shots of Mir. The last time I was able to attempt this was Feb 10, 2000 due to weather, work, travel, weather, family, weather, etc. Of course, the relative angle (to the camera) of a satellite such as Mir changes markedly thoughout the pass, that is: you see it "coming" then you see the "side view" then you see the "backside" as it moves away. Therefore, during any pass, the views obtained and the appearance of the satellite changes dramatically. I have just gotten prints made (from the Nov. 1 pass) yesterday, and I am just beginning to scan them, but a remarkable thing appears to have occurred. If I interpret the images correctly, it appears that Mir has returned to, or remains in, a nearly identical attitude relative to the Sun. I could be completely mistaken, but this is my interpretation for the similarity of the images. In other words, during both the Feb. 10, 2000 pass, and the Nov. 1, 2000 pass, my telescope/camera moved through approx 45 degrees WSW. Remarkably, the images obtained at this point in both passes are nearly identical, though the newest images are a bit clearer, (due to improved technique). Images from the two different passes can even be stacked. Sheer Luck seems out of the question. I have not yet posted the new pictures to my satphoto site yet, but I shall soon. Is this possible? Does Mir remain in, or is it returned to, a common orientation (relative to the Sun), say for the recent docking maneuver? I would appreciate any response that could "illuminate" me on this. Thanks in advance! Tom Troszak, Asheville, NC, USA 35.601 N, -82.554 W mailto:tom@bullhammer.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Nov 06 2000 - 06:42:09 PST