Flares, Flashers and Retrograde Orbits
Mir16609 (Mir16609@aol.com)
Thu, 12 Mar 1998 21:28:40 EST
The Flare:
OK, maybe it wasn't a daytime flare but the Sun elevation was only -3 deg.
Only the moon and Sirius were visible to the unaided eye. Iridium 20 flared
to a predicted -6 mag for about 3-4 seconds at 18:25:50 EST (23:25:50 UT)
about 58 deg el, 3 deg azi.
The Flashers:
Has anyone else noticed a change in the pattern of Titan IV r/b 25018
(97064B)? In January it was flashing from about a 2 mag to a 6 mag at about a
15 second period. Today it seemed to vary between a +2 and +3 mag. It was
visible at 1x from just above Cassiopeia past the alpha and beta Gemini until
it reached about a 25 deg elevation. If it was flashing it was very gradual.
The pass was from 18:59 - 19:03 EST (23:59-00:04 UT).
Cosmos 2333r (24298, 96064B) seemed to be flashing at about a 5-6 second
period from +3 to inv. I can remember this as being a 2 secong period.
Tonight's observation was at 20:20 EST (01:20 UT) just under the Pleiades.
The Retrograde:
Thanks to Craig Cholar for the heads-up on Ofeq 3. There are some good
passes over the next few days. Using the posted elset:
OFEQ 3 530 x 347
1 23549U 95018A 98070.25609858 .00084121 00000-0 13101-2 0 8367
2 23549 143.3566 178.4859 0134501 139.0920 222.0029 15.42526972162912
it seemed to pass just under Procyon about 10 seconds earlier than the
predicted 19:27 EST (00:27 UT). It was easily a +4.0 mag - very easy to
acquire with 10x50s. Strange to see a pass in the southern sky traveling
left to right.
Cheers.
Don Gardner
Homepage: http://members.aol.com/mir16609/
76.8419 W, 39.1796 N, 34m ASL