Re: iridium flare confusion

From: Bjorn Gimle (b.gimle@chello.se)
Date: Wed Oct 16 2002 - 15:53:50 EDT

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    The flare time is not always accurate, because there is some margin on
    pointing the antennae (1 degree??), and larger on those that are in spare
    orbits (marked with ? after the number)
    
    But the satellite position is normally very accurate. If you have a star
    conveniently close to the RA/Dec predicted, or run a graphic prediction
    program like SkyMap, and find some reference stars along the track where the
    flare is still marginally visible, you can verify the time.
    
    
    > Ir# S    Date    Local Time Azm El   RA   Decl  (km)  N Ill Azm  Elev M
    > Angle  Mag  Mag  Mag Latitude Longitude  (km)
    > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ---------------------------------------------
    > 21  ? 2002-10-14 20:32:15.0 016 37  5h32  71.7 1096.6 A Lit 278 -15.8 L
    > 3.38  1.9 -7.8  1.5  52.1200    5.4339  64.9 E
    > 66    2002-10-14 20:32:32.0 015 36  5h44  71.3 1210.8 A Lit 278 -15.9 L
    > 2.85  1.6 -7.6  0.9  52.1424    5.3699  60.2 E
    >
    > How do I know for sure which satellite was which? (I'm not very good at
    > reading TLEs.) And what about the deviating prediction times?
    >
    
    
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