Mike Murphy has commented on how interesting it was to observe the seriously retrograde satellite 23549, 95-18A, Ofeq 3 crossing the sky from eclipse in the east to invisibility in the west. I've seen it during several apparitions from Colorado Springs, and it's always reasonably bright and steady (standard magnitude, full phase, +5.5). The Israelis are constrained to launch over open water, which means the Mediterranean, and the worst direction from the point of view of energy, i.e. due west. An earlier Ofeq was in orbit for a much shorter time. David Brierley.