Besides good old Superbird A, there are some other near-geosynchs like it that flash similarly, a few minutes per night. Some can flash even brighter that Superbird A. A few are just now rising in the east for the USA "Great Plains" states (longitude about 100W). If anyone happens to catch one or more of them flashing brightly, please send in a report!! Intelsat 512 1 16101U 85087A 00298.12201172 -.00000222 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 03706 2 16101 004.9875 067.7192 0004837 039.1791 320.8972 00.99118209037480 Flash period 38-40 seconds; last report I can find was last August: http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/Aug-2000/0419.html Björn had worked out its rotation axis: http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/Aug-2000/0394.html TDF 1 1 19621U 88098A 00300.16622832 -.00000239 00000-0 10000-3 0 3033 2 19621 3.4093 78.6725 0000454 217.0796 143.0216 0.99198299 40872 Flash period may be 30 seconds or less, can be as bright as +2, some bright secondary maxima (i.e., can flash every ~15 seconds). Right now the latest report I find is a very informative one, including rotation axis, by Rob Matson last March: http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/Mar-2000/0027.html Tele-X 1 19919U 89027A 00299.17261671 -.00000233 00000-0 00000+0 0 3820 2 19919 2.9397 82.4026 0007265 55.6024 304.6450 0.99186462 24378 Flash period, um, more than three minutes, but can be at least as bright as Altair (+0.8)! Last report I find was last August: http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/Aug-2000/0437.html By the way, I don't know (yet?) how to use rotation axis data to determine when to look for flashes. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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