UME 2 sparkles

From: Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Wed Nov 22 2000 - 00:09:28 PST

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    Last night for some seconds during its pass here UME 2 (10675,
    78-018B) exhibited "sparkles" similar to USA 81 and USA 32.  
    It was flashing normally and then suddenly began to sparkle 
    at about 2:01:50.  These sparkles are actually very rapid 
    flashes, too fast to time -- or at least faster than I can 
    click.  There was a brief pause in the sparkling so that 
    there were actually two sub-episodes.  While it was sparkling 
    it was significantly brighter than at the ordinary maxima, 
    perhaps one magnitude.  (Again similar to USA 81 and 32.)  
    The sparkling lasted roughly 23 to 34 seconds; that is, 
    ordinary maxima resumed between 2:02:13 and 2:02:24, and they 
    fit nicely with the maxima before the sparkling episode.  PPAS:
    
    78- 18 B 00-11-22 02:02:51   EC   95.4 0.3  28  3.41  mag 5->inv + sparkles
    
    Location was Mt. Bonnell, 30.321N, 97.773W, 250m (a city park
    which is only useful during our winter due to 10:00 p.m. 
    curfew -- parking rules enforced).
    
    Have had good Mir passes the past three nights, and last night
    the best Iridium flare I've seen in quite a while.  Our poor 
    weather is resuming for the next two or three days or so 
    (payback for the drought that gave us so many clear nights for 
    months).
    
    Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA
    
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