Re: Another "What the...!"
JRBURCA@aol.com
Sat, 27 Sep 1997 16:54:15 -0400 (EDT)
Randy Parker wrote:
<< Did I see an infamous Iridium flash? >>
I think you did. Iridium 9 NORAD #24839 COSPAR 97030D
was at AZ 138 EL 49 at 01:40 UTC 10-Sept-97 (UTC) or
9-Sept-97 (local) from Dallas, Texas. Others, including myself,
have seen Iridium flares in that area of sky in evenings.
I use STS Plus. What I did is change the date in my computer
dos, then change the Primary Location in the STS Plus. Then
I would run the Pass Predictions part of the program sampling
an Iridium in each of the 5 Iridium groups to get close. Actually
the first group was close so that's as far as I went. Iridium 9 looks
like it matches with these TLE's obtained from OIG via VSOHP.
IRIDIUM 9
1 24839U 97030D 97267.04014280 +.00000020 +00000-0 -37531-7 0 01200
2 24839 086.4010 121.3292 0003699 079.1105 281.0507 14.34216909014093
I suspect that others use more direct methods to determine unknowns
but this is the only way I know. I must have an idea as to what object
it was and then make some trial pass predictions.
Jake Rees
Burbank, Calif., USA