Daytime Iridium flare and tropical storms

MALEY, PAUL D. (paul.d.maley1@jsc.nasa.gov)
Wed, 9 Sep 1998 08:27:53 -0500

On the Texas coast we normally have stagnating air masses to look through;
therefore, it is always a pleasure for me to look forward to tropical
storms, hurricanes, etc. which churn the air and clear the skies out. There
is a tropical depression 250 miles from here. A few moments ago, I stepped
outside the office to see this effect which allowed me to clearly observe a
predicted -7.5 magnitude daytime Iridium flare from IR58 at 12:51 Sep. 9. It
was elevation 51, azimuth 136 with the sun at elevation 10, azimuth 90. The
flare was easily observed passing over the top of building 4 south which
houses the offices of all of our Space Shuttle crewmembers.

Paul


Paul D. Maley

tel. 281-244-0208; fax: 281-244-1140
email: paul.d.maley1@jsc.nasa.gov
latitude 29.6049 north, longitude 95.1086 west, elev 6m