Gerhard HOLTKAMP worote: > . . .with the pair of GRACE satellites (2002-012A and 2002-012B). > What I find strange is that they fluctuate strongly in brightness (even > during the 20 sec exposures). The visual report (they were also observed > through binoculars) mentioned the leading satellite fluctuating between mag > 5 > and less than mag 8 (then disappearing) and the trailing satellite was > between mag 3 and mag 5.> My experience until now: Most transits of GRACE Satellites result in steady appearing satellites. Sometimes the conditions are suitable to let the two spacecraft show one flare. I did not analyse those special cases. But I presume that there might be a connection: GRACE's azimuth equals Sun's azimuth. I did not prove this yet. When one speaks about variable satellites, what does one mean? If there is one and sometimes are two increases in brightness for a short time within a transit, I regard these satellites as steady and they have flared. If there is a more or less periodicity in brighntness fluctuations I suspect the satellite to be rotating one way or another. Therefore my question: how many brightness variations were actually seen? Bram Dorreman COSPAR 4160 51° 16' 45.5" N 5° 28' 36.6" E (WGS84) 35 m ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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