Almost Daytime Iridium Obs

Ron Lee (ronlee@pcisys.net)
Thu, 16 Oct 1997 07:03:30

Decided to try an Iridium flare just before sunrise (7:09 am Local).

Was out in plenty of time.  Could still make out Sirius.  Seconds 
before the Matson predicted flare I saw it.   Max magnitude was
perhaps -3 to -4.  Much brighter than Sirius and easy to find.
Flare maximum within 1 second or so of predicted max but the 
brightness was much higher than predicted (variability in MMA
pointing).

Iridium number was 14.  Flare at 6:56:39 AM local on 16 Oct 97.

Formal report will be in the updated flare listing at end of month.

Ron Lee