For anyone interested in seeing a flashing geosynch, Gorizont 23 has been easy to observe with 10x50 binoculars the last few evenings (in spite of the moonlight and including with some cloud interference a couple of nights!). Last night it was due south of Texas, and it will be a few degrees farther west tonight. Its flash period is about 56 seconds. I'd say that the brightest maxima may be +4.5, but they are not all that bright; some are down to +6.0 or maybe +6.5. Last night I observed it twice -- the second while about 80 minutes later than the first. So right now it's flashing for a long time, making for a pretty good opportunity to see it. (Sometimes Gorizonts are brighter like this on one apparition but not so on another apparition months later.) Here's a recent elset: Gorizont 23 1 21533U 91046A 02220.43503083 -.00000191 +00000-0 +10000-3 0 04021 2 21533 006.8614 059.5593 0004209 089.6112 270.5805 00.98908450034545 PPAS report (first observing period): 91- 46 A 02-08-17 04:33:15 EC 1904.4 0.3 34 56.01 +4.5->inv Site: 30.315N, 97.866W, 280m. Telstar 401 (93-077A, 22927) -- I did manage to catch it three evenings in a row, but since it flashes earlier each night, it's now flashing during daylight here. Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 15:24:54 EDT