Hi Bruno and List, > All in all, solar transits are much more likely to be observed than > lunar transits, and this is confirmed by the record of observations. > I know of only two verifiable and documented solar transit > observations: one by Ron Dantowitz as described in the April > issue of SKY & TELESCOPE, the other one by a Belgian observer on > 25 June which has not been published so far but of which I have > a copy of the video recording. Large solar observatories, like the one at Big Bear Lake, CA, regularly observe solar transit events. They probably even have recordings of some of them. Most transits are by birds, mylar balloons or airplanes, but some are satellites. However, since it's not their area of interest, they're not likely to go out of their way to publish or even document such events. When you say solar transits are much more likely to be observed than lunar transits, but then go on to say there have only been two "verifiable" solar transit observations, you imply that there must be no "verifiable" record of a lunar transit. I guess I would ask, "verifiable" by what standard? Few people regularly record video or still photography of such events. But if you have multiple, experienced witnesses to the same event, I'd say that's sufficient. By that standard, sunlit satellite lunar transits have certainly been observed more than twice. A group in California observed a Mir transit of the moon several years back which I have reported here more than once. I consider that observation solid, and I believe they were the first. They may even have recorded video. > On the other hand, I am not aware of any documented lunar transit > by a dark satellite. Optically, that shouldn't be any tougher than observing a silouette solar transit. From an equipment standpoint it's actually easier, since you don't need a solar filter. With a mobile telescope, GPS and the desire, I doubt one would need to drive more than 100 miles to observe such an event any month around full moon that clear skies permit. --Rob ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Aug 18 2001 - 11:48:01 PDT