ISS Flare!

Mal and Ava Bishop (abishop@lowcountry.com)
Thu, 22 Apr 1999 15:11:50 -0400 

Hi everyone,

I am little behind in posting this for staying up all night
viewing a not so great (I'm being generous) Lyrid meteor shower.  <sigh>

I guess some of you remember my post from a couple of days ago.
I introduced myself to the list and described the first dramatic flare
I ever saw, and the first time I had ever seen HST flare at all.
Well,  last night (4/21) I anticipated what might happen again with 
HST and was thrilled to realize ISS was going to be making a pass
approximately the same time as HST - ISS would culminate 
approximately one minute before HST.
Well, I spotted ISS first (elev. ~25deg. azimuth ~180deg.) at mag. 2.0.
SatSpy predicted ~ 0 mag., but I was using elsets over a week old.
As I watched (21:02 EDT), ISS suddenly started to brighten as if there
would be no end.
It flared in a steady fashion to ~ -4.5 to maybe -5.0 mag. (and maybe even
slightly more) that lasted for
~ 45 seconds (I still have trouble judging magnitude as accurately as most
of you probably can) - but 
it was noticeably brighter than Venus, which I used to judge it by, and
remained at
this intensity for ~ 45 seconds.  
Slightly past culmination (elev. ~40deg. azim. ~130deg.  21:03 EDT) it
began to dim until finally stabilizing
again around mag. 2.0 - 2.5 then finally into shadow around 21:04 EDT.
Needless to say, my mouth dropped open and I was just stunned.  I almost
completely forgot about
HST, but when I could finally force my eyes off of ISS I noted that HST
remained pretty much steady and 
unspectacular at ~ mag. 2.0.
I went bonkers again (like I did the other night when HST flared), tried to
get my wife's attention by yelling 
like an idiot, but she was trying to get our
son to sleep.  I guess I'm relegated to viewing these spectacular
occurrences by myself. <sigh>
I wonder if anyone in my rural neighborhood even noticed this or would even
care?
I've been of course watching ISS when it was just the Zarya module, and
never saw it even begin to
show any signs of trying to flare in the least - just a normal steady
increase in magnitude of 1 or so
as it made its predicted nominal pass. 

I know the flare is attributed to a greater surface area being exposed to
the sun (i.e., solar panels, longitudinal 
axis of the satellite body, etc.) of a given satellite in respect to the
observer at a given time
and location as the satellite maneuvers locally on axis or changes its
position relative to this ground based observer.
Is my understanding of this in the ballpark?
Was ISS being manipulated possibly at the time I witnessed this particular
pass?

I have tried several times to witness an Iridium flare, but with no luck.
I always enjoyed reading
other peoples' accounts of these spectacular events and always hoped to see
one.  I always
thought, seeing one at night would be awesome, but to see one in the
daytime, now that
would be beyond comprehension - at least to me!  But I guess the gods
finally felt sorry for
me and favored me with not one but two incredible experiences, and within
just days of each other.


I wasn't really prepared to accurately time the pass or flare duration - I
just counted to my self.
I'll get my act together soon hopefully, but with a new baby and other
obligations, I'm lucky to get
outside on time to see anything!  

I tend to be a verbose person, but I'll try to do better on my notation and
ACCURACY!  I just really get excited sometimes
and need to share the joy with someone, like you folks on this list!

Thanks for the patience and the interest -



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Malvin (Mal)  Bishop, Jr.     

33.0819195N     80.8837905W      Elev.  100' ASL

e-mail:  abishop@lowcountry.com
ICQ:     32296418

To handle yourself, use your head,
To handle others use your heart.