Hey All,
With help, as usual, from Kevin Fetter, I've
posted an Excel spreadsheet at:
http://www.kfetter.com/jeff/2007FallGeosatFlare.xls
(You might get a message saying "Enter Network
Password", just click on the "Cancel" button and the
page should appear.) The spreadsheet takes an
observers exact latitude and longitude and GMT Offset
and calculates where and when to look in the next few
days to see maximum geostationary satellite (geosat)
flaring. If you do not have Microsoft Excel to run
this spreadsheet, send me an email with you exact
latitude, longitude, and current GMT Offset and I
will, time permitting, send you a table of dates,
times, and locations.
To use this table enter your longitude (negative
for West, positive for East), latitude (positive for
North, negative for South - although geosat flaring
has pretty much ended for Southern Hemisphere
observers), and you current GMT Offset. The acronym PD
means "Purple Dot" and it is where you look in the
sky. PDRT means Purple Dot Rise Time (on your eastern
horizon), PD RA means PD Right Ascension, PD Dec.
means PD Declination, and PDST means PD Set Time (on
your western horizon). With the exception of last date
- Oct 15 (and maybe Oct 14), if you see the term
"#NUM!" in both of the "Eclipse" columns, then this
means that the PD stays eclipsed all night and there
be no flaring geosats at the PD. On the last date, Oct
15 (and maybe Oct 14) the term "#NUM" means that the
PD is visible *all* night - which is a great
situation. Please see email
http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Sep-2007/0240.html for
more information. Please let me know if you have any
questions.
Regards,
Jeff Umbarger
Plano, TX, USA
jumbarger2000@yahoo.com
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