Re: Unpredicted Iridium Flare

From: Gerhard HOLTKAMP (grd.holtkamp@t-online.de)
Date: Mon Apr 17 2006 - 15:14:19 EDT

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    Brad Young wrote:
    
    >While looking for one of "Kevin's" Breeze tanks, I noticed a -0 (= Capella)
    >flare 5 deg W of Polaris. It was:
    
    >Iridium 62 #25285
    >1:35:27 UT, PA= 355, Alt= 36, northbound
    
    The left MMA (Main Mission Antenna) would have caused a flare of about mag 
    2.4. A slight misalingment of about 0.5 deg in yaw and pitch would have 
    changed that into a mag 0 flare at the indicated time. So no extra antenna or 
    solar panels necessary in this case.
    
    EVERYONE PLEASE: Quite often there are reports giving the exact UT but either 
    no date or words like *yesterday* or *last night*. While looking at the date 
    of when the message was posted one can guess the date but note that 
    *yesterday* etc. can mean a different date in different parts of the world. 
    Please always add the correct date to the indicated times. (The above 
    mentioned 1:35:27 UT seems to be on 17-APR-06 as that is also in line with 
    the observation of Iridium 62 at the stated position.)
    
    Gerhard HOLTKAMP
    Darmstadt, Germany
    
    
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