The laser altimeter aboard ICESat (27642) is on again and is planned to remain on until mid-March. When atmospheric conditions are right and observer positioning is exactly right, green light from the laser can be seen from the ground. To observe the laser in even good conditions it is required to get within a few hundred meters of the satellite’s ground track and look towards zenith precisely as the satellite passes overhead. This is hard to do. Publicly available satellite elements are likely only good to a few kilometers and the satellite is usually but not always pointing nadir. I however recommend interested observers give it a try if an ICESat pass comes close as the effect is quite unique and successful observations are rather rare. The next month of passes occur in darkness around 3 AM for mid-latitudes More discussion on observing ICESat can be found in the SeeSat-L archives for Oct-03. Gregg Hendry ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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