Re: Primary and Secondary Flashes

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In a message dated 10/2/99 6:28:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time, pkcurran@iol.ie 
writes:

> 
>  Can I ask what is the difference in 'Primary' and 'Secondary' flashes?

In the case of Superbird A (and many other objects such as Spot 3) the 
flashes are originating from different surfaces of the object.  With 
Superbird A you begin to see flashes spaced 23 seconds apart.  Then another 
surface begins to flash (the other side of the solar panels??) and you're 
getting flashes every 11.5 seconds.  The additional, secondary flash is 
clearly dimmer that the original flash.  After a few minutes the secondary 
flash is too dim to be observed and a few minutes later Superbird a stops 
flashing entirely.

See:
http://users.skynet.be/satimage/bwgs/bwgs.htm
for info on flashing satellites.

Cheers
Don Gardner  39.1796 N, 76.8419 W, 34m ASL
Homepage: http://hometown.aol.com/mir16609/
Baikonur  -  mplayer.com / hearme.com

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