Re: Moon Transit of Mir

Leo Barhorst (leobarhorst@pi.net)
Fri, 25 Oct 1996 09:50:59 +0200

Bruno Tilgner wrote:
> 
> I am glad to announce that for the first time, as far as reported, a transit of
> Mir in front of the nearly full Moon has been calculated AND observed.
> 
> Today, 24 October 1996, amateur astronomers and satellite watchers Josef and
> Johannes Mueller of Irmtraut, Germany, drove to a place near 51 degrees
> latitude and 8 degrees east longitude which I had calculated previously and
> observed Mir crossing the Moon at about 17:03:15 UTC.
> 
> The pass has been photographed, but the film has yet to be developed.
> 
> The theoretician (myself) and the observers were separated by about 500 km
> and have only used e-mail and faxes to maintain communication.
> 
> The successful completion of the "expedition" was, however, reported from a
> car telephone.
> 
> Neil Clifford has unwittingly contributed by making the most recent Mir TLE's
> available on his web site. Thanks, Neil, for this service!
> 
> Bruno Tilgner
> e-mail: 100533.2016@compuserve.com   Fax: +33 1 5557 0042

Hello Bruno,

I also watched MIR last night, but as I'm at 52 degrees north, but 
further to the west, Mir just "missed" the moon as seen from my place.
Mir entered earthshadow just before reaching the moon. By extrapolating 
the flightpath it must have paased just under the nearly full moon.

greetings and clear skies

Leo Barhorst		Alkmaar			The Netherlands
52.6333 North		4.7833 East		3 m ASL
Member of Seesat-L
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Every day I wonder about the things I see in the (night)sky