On Fri, 29 Aug 1997 JRBURCA@aol.com wrote: > I'm curious as to how magnitudes of satellites are judged. Is this > just knowing magnitudes of stars and then comparing? I would > like some advice from those who think they estimate magnitudes > fairly well. I have maps with magnitudes of all stars noted on them. I'll compare a sat to nearby stars. If sat seems midway in brightness between stars of mag 6.0 and 7.0, I note it as mag 6.5. If closer to the brighter star, note it as mag 6.3. If barely dimmer than the brighter star, note it as mag 6.1. If sat looks just as bright as a particular star, then note it as having same mag. Does that help? Jay Respler -- Details of how to get on the Satellite Observer Mail List, elements, prediction programs and other satellite information, at the Visual Satellite Observers Home Page: http://www2.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/sat/satintro.html -- JRespler@InJersey.com Satellite Tracker * Early Typewriter Collector Freehold, New Jersey