Blue ISS
Bruno Tilgner (Bruno_Tilgner@compuserve.com)
Thu, 25 Feb 1999 19:33:22 -0500
Quinn McCleery wrote:
> Also, it passed amazingly close to Gamma Cass.,perhaps within
> an arcminute or two!
I suppose everybody realises that this is purely an effect of
perspective. Move a few kilometers/miles, and the object will
appear to pass elsewhere with respect to the stars.
This brings me to the real subject of my message: I believe it is
superfluous to mention that an object was seen in this or that
constellation. One would have to reconstruct the local sky in order
to appreciate these indications. Since nobody will do that (for lack
of time) it would be better not to mention the constellations where
an object was seen because this is far too denpendent on the
observer's location.
However, what could be interesting is a mention of azimuth and
elevation where certain effects like flashes, flares, dimming etc.
occurred. This permits at least a quick mental evaluation of the
phase angle.
I take this opportunity to ask all those who report their observations
in local time to also indicate either the time in UTC or at least
the difference of their time zone with respect to UTC. This would be
very helpful for all those who do not know by heart a conversion
table of all the US time zones.
Bruno Tilgner
Saint-Cloud, France
48.85N 2.3E UTC+1