STS-87, Iridiums
Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Fri, 05 Dec 1997 23:33:48 -0600
With our STS-87 re-entry predicted for 7 degrees above the south
horizon, I went to Mt. Bonnell, a "mountain" (236 meters) with a
great southern view. Sue arrived there also a few minutes later.
There were also about a dozen other people neither of us knew.
The Shuttle appeared low in the WSW, followed by the plasma trail,
and we were able to watch it for ... about 5 seconds before it
disappeared behind a layer of clouds and never reappeared. (Of
course the little remnant of the plasma trail that was visible
remained longer.) Oh, well, maybe better luck next time. (An
interesting thing is that someone in my department at work was
able to see it pretty much unobscured, except for tree limbs and
houses, for a minute or two, apparently below the cloud layer
that obscured it for those of us at a higher altitude and a few
kilometers southeast of his location.)
My mom saw STS-87 over San Antonio Wednesday morning through a
large break in the clouds. She had gone outside to pick up the
newspaper -- but at the correct time for STS-87, just in case.
I, on the other hand, watched for it from Austin in vain -- no
lucky breaks in the clouds for me. But it did make a fine
visible pass over here Thursday morning, and there was a very
good HST pass a few minutes later. Also observed Lacrosse 3
pretty much as predicted. And a few others. Plus a great
Iridium flare.
We had whopper Iridium flares two mornings in a row. Friday's
(about a half-hour after the Shuttle re-entry) was partially
obscured by clouds. Thursday's, at only 11 degrees above the
horizon, was a very good one! It would be nice to have one in
the evening one of these days....
Ed Cannon
ecannon@mail.utexas.edu
Austin, Texas, USA -- 30.31N, 97.73W, 150m -- more or less