Hi all -
After months of being thwarted by clouds, other engagements, and
the general rarity of visible events, I finally caught a lunar
Iridium flare! Perhaps in the nick of time, too, with the
constellation facing an uncertain short-term future.
First, here's the Iridflar output (thanks, Rob, for a
magnificent program!):
Ir Date Time Az El Flar Vis
MDT (UT-6) Angle Mag
28 2000-10-10 20:36:06 144 63 0.09 7.5
After looking for a 11th-magnitude predicted event the previous
evening, I decided to take no chances and set up the 12.5-inch
reflector with a giant Erfle eyepiece that gives a 2-degree field
at 33x. At the appointed time, nothing had appeared, but about 5
seconds later, a rapidly brightening object appeared about half a
degree east of the predicted position. It peaked at magnitude 7,
then faded as quickly. The time scale of the event was similar
to a nearly central sun-illuminated flare.
One odd thing - the flare was distincly orange. Sun-
illuminated flares all seem quite whitish, and the moon is not a
redder source than the sun. Has anyone else noticed this with
lunar Iridium flares?
cheers, Rich Keen
Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado, USA (39.877N, 105.391W, elev 2728m)
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Oct 12 2000 - 16:34:54 PDT